BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, April 16 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said leaders of Lebanon and Israel will speak, saying he was “trying to get a little breathing room” between the countries, after more than six weeks of war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
“It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow. Nice!” Trump wrote in a social media post published before midnight on Wednesday, Washington time.
It did not say which Lebanese and Israeli leaders would speak, or give any further details.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the offices of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
The conflict spiralled out of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, with the Iran-backed Hezbollah opening fire in support of Tehran on March 2, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last conflict.
Washington on Wednesday expressed optimism about reaching a deal to end the war with Iran.
Israel’s security cabinet convened late on Wednesday to discuss a possible Lebanon ceasefire, a senior Israeli official said. Another senior Israeli official and a senior Lebanese official said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was under heavy pressure from Washington to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Netanyahu, in a video statement released late on Wednesday, said the Israeli military continued to strike at Hezbollah and was about to “overcome” the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.
The senior Lebanese official said that Lebanon’s assessment was that Israel wanted to secure a victory in Bint Jbeil before diplomatic progress could be made.
The Israeli military said its troops were continuing “targeted ground operations in southern Lebanon”.
In Israel, sirens rang out warning of incoming rocket fire, sending residents of several Israeli northern towns running to bomb shelters. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Hezbollah kept up its attacks, firing rockets at two towns in Israel, the group’s al-Manar television reported.
(Reporting by Emily Rose in Jerusalem and Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Ros Russell)
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