The delegations of Israel and Lebanon in Washington, DC released a joint statement on Thursday, 4 June, in which they announced that the two parties have agreed to a ceasefire. However, it is conditional on the ‘complete cessation’ of fire by Hezbollah, an Islamist terror group based in Lebanon and supported by the Iranian regime.
The two countries, which do not maintain formal diplomatic relations, have also agreed to create ‘pilot zones’ where only the Lebanese Armed Forces would be permitted to operate, the Qatari state news site Al Jazeera reports. The negotiations between the two belligerent countries were mediated by the United States.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has already dismissed the ceasefire deal, calling it ‘futile, humiliating, and disgraceful for Lebanon’. However, markets still reacted greatly to the news breaking, as it is against a trend of escalation in the Middle East we saw in the last few days.
As of the time of writing this, the primary American stock index is up 1.78 per cent for the day and 6.63 per cent for the calendar year. Meanwhile, crude oil prices have dropped in the commodities markets. The futures contracts of a barrel of American-produced WTI crude oil have dropped about 3 per cent for the day, and are currently trading at around $92–$93.
Earlier this week, Iran claimed they were completely withdrawing from the negotiations with the United States after the Israeli Defence Forces took over the crucial Beaufort Castle in Nabatieh Governorate, Lebanon.
In response, President Trump and the US State Department intensified their mediation efforts between Israel and Lebanon, the delegations of which had already been in Washington for talks for weeks. The conditional ceasefire came as a result of those efforts.
US President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had a spat over the weekend during a phone call. Axios reported that President Trump even called him ‘f***ing crazy’ and told him that he helped him stay out of jail. When confronted with these reports, President Trump did not deny them, but did assert that he thinks he and PM Netanyahu are working well together as ‘wartime President and wartime Prime Minister’.
As of the latest news on the ground, Israeli air strikes continued in Southern Lebanon, but ground IDF forces are confirmed to have been withdrawn from parts of the region, resulting in the reopening of an important road. There have been no new strikes exchanged between the US and Iranian forces today, unlike the previous day this week.
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