A 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel took effect at midnight Friday, pausing fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel reserved its right to self-defense "against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks," but also committed to "not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon by land, air, and sea."
Both countries requested that the U.S. facilitate further negotiations, according to the ceasefire agreement published by the U.S. State Department.
"May have been a historic day for Lebanon. Good things are happening!!!" President Trump wrote in a post on social media shortly after the agreement entered into force. He also suggested the top Israeli and Lebanese leaders may be invited to the White House for further talks.
With a truce between Israel and Lebanon in place, a key Iranian demand, hopes were raised that the United States and Iran could resume talks in the coming days aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war in the Middle East. The war has disrupted oil supply globally as Iran attacked vessels and imposed a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation to U.S. and Israeli strikes and the U.S. responded by instituting a blockade on Iranian ports.
The current two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire, mediated by Pakistan, expires Wednesday, April 22.
News images showed crowds celebrating in parts of Lebanon and thousands of displaced families began returning to their homes Friday, even as Lebanese officials urged caution amid fears the ceasefire could still unravel. Hezbollah acknowledged the truce, but said its next steps would depend on developments on the ground.
Leaders including the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and European Union officials welcomed the agreement and called for it to hold.
The latest developments come three days after Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. held rare talks in Washington, the first direct high-level engagement between the two countries in decades.
Here are the latest updates:
World leaders on ceasefire | Lebanon reactions | Strait of Hormuz
World leaders urge restraint as ceasefire takes hold
President Trump hailed the ceasefire as a "historic day" for Lebanon, but urged Hezbollah to uphold the agreement.
"I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time. It will be [a] GREAT moment for them if they do. No more killing. Must finally have PEACE!" Trump said in a post on social media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire could open the door to a broader agreement with Lebanon, but made clear Israel would not withdraw from what he described as an expanded 10-kilometer-deep security buffer zone in southern Lebanon. He also said any talks would hinge on Hezbollah's disarmament.
Lebanon's Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, called the agreement a central Lebanese demand since the start of the war and said he hoped displaced residents would be able to return home soon.
Trump on Thursday also said he was inviting Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to the White House for peace talks.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he welcomed the ceasefire and urged all sides to respect it fully, adding he hoped it would lead to negotiations toward a long term solution.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is credited for mediating the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, also welcomed the truce, calling it a step toward "sustainable peace" and reaffirmed his country's support for Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, urged those displaced not to rush back to southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs until the situation becomes clearer. In a separate statement, the militant group said any ceasefire must apply across Lebanese territory and warned that any continued Israeli presence would leave Lebanon with the right to resist depending on how events unfold.
Hezbollah has both a political wing, with lawmakers in Lebanon's national parliament, and militia that operates largely independently of the Lebanese government and receives funding and direction from Iran.
Lebanon's government has pushed for a ceasefire before entering bigger diplomatic negotiations with Israel. Hezbollah opposes the talks.
Israel had agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon in 2024, but U.N. peacekeepers recorded more than 10,000 violations of that agreement, mostly by Israeli forces.
Thousands in Lebanon head home despite warnings
Thousands of people displaced by fighting in Lebanon in recent weeks began heading home Friday, hours after the ceasefire took effect, despite warnings from Hezbollah and Lebanese officials that it was still too dangerous to return home.
The war has displaced around 1.2 million people in Lebanon, and many are now going back to assess the damage of their homes.
Hussein Farhat, a shopkeeper from Beirut's southern suburbs – a Hezbollah stronghold that was repeatedly targeted in Israeli strikes – told NPR he was thinking about going home to check on his shop, but wouldn't move back until the fighting came to a permanent end.
"You feel a heartbreak just visiting your home and neighborhood and then you leave," he said. "It's heartbreaking."
Israeli forces have destroyed more than 40,000 homes in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials, taking over whole villages to create what Israel says is a "security buffer zone" to keep Hezbollah from firing rockets into Israel.
The latest round of fighting began after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Israeli forces responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
In his remarks shortly after the ceasefire was announced, Netanyahu made clear Israel did not intend to withdraw soon, saying "we are not leaving."
France and Britain host talks on reopening Strait of Hormuz
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are hosting an international summit in Paris on Friday on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which about 20% of the world's crude oil and natural gas typically passes.
The shipping route has been choked off by the war in the Middle East, with Iran effectively closing off the narrow strait. In addition, Iran's retaliatory attacks on Gulf countries' oil and gas refineries have caused further disruption in global supply. As a result, some international experts say the world is now facing "the greatest energy security threat in history."
The Paris meeting, which will be virtual, brings together leaders from dozens of countries, with Italian Prime Minister Giorigia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also expected to attend in person.
The United States is not involved in the talks, which Macron described as focused on a "strictly defensive" mission to protect commercial shipping when the fighting stops. That includes demining the route, intelligence sharing, military escorts and ensuring Iran does not charge ships for passing through the waterway.
Starmer said the reopening of the strait was a "global responsibility," as countries worked to limit the economic fallout from the conflict, which has sent energy markets reeling.
"The unconditional and immediate reopening of the Strait is a global responsibility, and we need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again," Starmer said in a statement ahead of the summit.
Trump has criticized European countries for rejecting or hesitating to get involved in the war with Iran.
The war on Iran has had severe consequences for economies across the Mideast.
A new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the hardest-hit countries are Iran, Iraq and Qatar.
In addition to disruption of oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz, major airports from Doha to Dubai have seen traffic drop dramatically because of the war, affecting revenue across the Gulf.|
The International Monetary Fund said the country worst-hit economically is Qatar, with a nearly 9% contraction to its economy this year due to a complete suspension of gas production.
The IMF also predicts that Iran's economy will shrink by 6 % this year, and that Iraq's will contract by nearly 7%.
These figures are based on assumptions the current ceasefire holds and energy production resumes to normal levels by June.
Elsewhere in the region, according to the report, energy importers like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan have had to spend more due to soaring oil and gas prices, widening their fiscal deficits.
Kat Lonsdorf in Beirut, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, Fatima Al-Kassab and Rebecca Rosman in London contributed to this report.
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