Trump Says Progress Is Being Made on Lebanon

U.S. President Donald Trump said on June 4 that he believed progress was being made between Israel and Lebanon and that Lebanon deserved to have peace.

When asked by reporters in the Oval Office about Hezbollah’s rejection of the U.S. brokered ceasefire between the Jewish State and its northern Arab neighbour, the president rejected the notion that the terrorist group had rebuffed the ceasefire.

“Yeah, they weren’t [rejecting] me. They didn’t reject me. Look, they’re looking. I think Hezbollah—I will tell you, they called us, and they said, how about stopping?” he said.

“And I think you’re going to see things happen over there. That’s been a little bit of a different world, but it’s interconnected with Iran.”

Trump went on to say that it “would be really nice if Lebanon could have some peace.”

“Lebanon’s been under attack for so many years and always like an underdog. And it would be really nice if it could end,” he said, adding that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Lebanese government, and Hezbollah about the situation.

“And I think progress is made,” he said.

“That’s been going on for a long time. You know, when you look at that, for years and years, 48 years. I say, well, let’s get this settled. How long has it been going on? 48 years. I said, that’s a long time. Not that easy.”

Israel and Lebanon announced on June 3 that they had agreed to implement a ceasefire.

Hezbollah Vows to ‘Strike Wherever We Decide’

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said on June 4 that it would not abide by the ceasefire, calling it “fictitious” and saying that if his fighters were to abandon the southern front, it would amount to “surrender, defeat, and the fulfillment of the enemy’s objectives,” according to comments carried by Hezbollah-owned media outlet Al Manar.

“It is like Satan’s dream of entering Paradise,” he said.

“We have not given anyone a commitment not to resist aggression and respond to it. As long as the aggression continues, [Hezbollah will] confront it with all the strength we possess, and we will strike wherever we decide and are able.”

Hezbollah is opposed to the direct talks and has continued firing at Israeli troops in Lebanon and at northern Israel.

Israel Will Continue Operation

Those comments followed Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s remarks earlier the same day, stating that Israel would continue its operations on the ground in southern Lebanon despite agreeing to a ceasefire.

“The declaration of principles between Israel and the Lebanese government in Washington includes a declaration on the goal of disarming Hezbollah throughout Lebanon and condemning Iran’s involvement in Lebanon and the region,” Katz said, according to local Israeli media.

“The ceasefire is conditional on the early removal of Hezbollah terrorists from the entire area south of the Litani [river] and the creation of a demilitarized zone, with the IDF continuing its fire and activity in the area at this stage; the IDF remaining in the security zone in Lebanon up to the yellow line, including in the Beaufort area and without the return of the population.”

He said that the “continued thwarting of terrorist infrastructure on the ground” and “freedom of action for Israel, with American backing, to strike in Beirut, Lebanon, in response to fire at Israeli communities and territory,” were also conditions of the agreement.

Voilence Continues

Meanwhile, the violence on the ground in Lebanon continued, with an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officer being killed in a Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile attack in southern Lebanon on June 4.

The IDF named him as Cpt. Eitan Shmuel Lemberg, 21, of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion, from Mishmar HaShiv’a, in a June 4 post on Facebook.

At around 4 p.m. local time, a Hezbollah operative fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli tank operating north of the Litani River, killing Lemberg, according to Israeli media reports.

Immediately after the attack, the IDF said that it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the area from the air and with artillery.

A Serbian U.N. peacekeeper in Lebanon died on Thursday from wounds sustained when mortar shells hit his position near Marjayoun in southeastern Lebanon late the previous night, the seventh peacekeeper killed in the country since March.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killing of the peacekeeper in a post on X.

“Seven peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) have now been killed & several more have been wounded since the escalation in hostilities since March this year,” he said.

“These attacks must stop.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.