Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Wednesday that Israel supports the US decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but explicitly excluded Lebanon from the ceasefire agreement. The statement creates a significant gap in what Pakistani mediators had described as a comprehensive regional truce.
Netanyahu's office said Israel backed the US move provided Tehran immediately reopens the Strait of Hormuz and halts attacks against the United States, Israel and regional countries. The clarification directly contradicts Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's earlier announcement that the ceasefire applied "everywhere, including Lebanon and elsewhere."
The two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon
Benjamin Netanyahu's office — multiple outlets
The exclusion leaves Hezbollah operations outside the diplomatic pause, maintaining Israel's military campaign against the Iran-backed group that has killed over 1,500 people and displaced more than one million Lebanese since March. Israel launched its Lebanon offensive after Hezbollah attacked Israeli cities in retaliation for Israel's killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28.
President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire deal just hours before his deadline to "obliterate" Iran was set to expire. The agreement emerged from last-minute Pakistani mediation, with negotiations scheduled to begin Friday in Islamabad. Trump credited China with pushing Iran toward the negotiating table.
France 24 frames this as a diplomatic contradiction requiring clarification, emphasizing the mediation role of Pakistan and the technical details of the ceasefire terms. Their coverage focuses on the procedural aspects of international diplomacy rather than taking sides, reflecting France's traditional role as a mediator in Middle Eastern conflicts.