Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike after a senior Israeli official told Reuters on June 19, 2026, that Israel and Hezbollah were in a ceasefire, as long as Hezbollah does not attack Israel, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed on a ceasefire, a U.S. official said on Friday (June 19, 2026), after deadly new exchanges in Lebanon put the fragile deal to end the West Asia war under immediate strain.
The truce that began at 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) was brokered by U.S. and Qatari mediators following talks with Israel and Iran, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A Gulf diplomat also confirmed the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire to AFP. The Lebanon clashes had threatened the deal between Washington and Tehran to end the war, after the postponement of planned talks in Switzerland featuring U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have shown growing frustration recently with Israel, Washington’s ally and partner in the Iran war. Mr. Trump called on Thursday (June 18) for a “complete ceasefire on all fronts” including from Israel.
He has also been increasingly critical of the high death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
“When two drones are shot into the desert and drop harmlessly, you don’t have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better, and frankly they could do a better job,” Mr. Trump said at the G7 summit in France on Wednesday (June 17).
Mr. Vance, meanwhile, issued an extraordinary rebuke of hardline ministers in the Israeli government on Thursday (June 18) for criticising the Iran deal, telling them to “wake up and smell the reality.”
“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Mr. Vance told a White House briefing.
“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
Mr. Trump on Friday (June 19) separately showed frustration with both Iran and critics at home who say the deal rewards Tehran without properly limiting its nuclear program.
“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social, after Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday (June 18) that Mr. Trump had “used all kinds of levers” to secure the deal “out of desperation”.
Mr. Trump added that the United States would “play out the 60 days” during which Iran and the United States are meant to try to thrash out a long-term deal. “They get no money, not ten cents!”
Republican hawks and Democrats alike have criticised the deal for offering sanctions relief and a $300 reconstruction fund for Iran, but Mr. Trump said Iran was now “diminished”.
“How stupid can some people be???” he said in another social media post.
Published – June 19, 2026 09:13 pm IST
