Israel, Hezbollah agree to ceasefire starting Friday

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire starting Friday at 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT), a senior US official told Reuters, following a sharp escalation in cross-border fighting in Lebanon.The truce was brokered with the involvement of the United States, Qatar, and Iran, the official said, adding that negotiations were supported by both Qatari and Iranian intermediaries. “Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said, noting that the arrangement followed renewed exchanges of fire earlier in the day.

The agreement comes after days of intensified violence along the Israel–Lebanon border, including Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed at least 18 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and separate attacks in which four Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, in one of Hezbollah’s deadliest strikes in the ongoing conflict.
Check our live blog: US-Iran War Live UpdatesA Hezbollah lawmaker told Reuters that Iran had informed the group that broader talks with Washington could not proceed without the implementation of a comprehensive ceasefire. The escalation had also placed strain on a broader US-Iran understanding aimed at de-escalating regional tensions.

Violence had briefly eased earlier in the week before flaring up again, underscoring the fragility of diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict.

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