US-Iran cease-fire calls for end to fighting in Lebanon

The cease-fire set to begin at 4 p.m. local time Friday was supposed to cool the war in Lebanon, but U.S. intelligence officials did not expect Israel to stop striking Hezbollah. The disconnect exposed how little leverage Washington had over events on the ground, even after the United States, Qatar and Iran helped shape an agreement meant to quiet one front of a wider regional crisis.

Senior U.S. officials said Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to the truce, while the terms were worked out by U.S. and Qatari negotiators with help from Iran. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Iran had told the group that talks with Washington could not continue without a comprehensive cease-fire in Lebanon, underscoring how the fighting had become a test of the broader U.S.-Iran diplomatic track.

The battlefield, however, did not wait for the paperwork. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said Israeli airstrikes and bombardments on Friday killed at least 47 people and wounded 97 others, including seven women and two children. Israel said four soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest single incidents since the latest escalation began. Even after cease-fire announcements, strikes continued in southern Lebanon, reinforcing the sense that the truce existed more on paper than in practice.

Israel said it was not consulted in the negotiations that produced the understanding, and it bristled at any requirement that it halt operations in Lebanon, where it says it is targeting Hezbollah. That position leaves Washington trying to enforce an agreement without full control over one of the main combatants, a limitation that could matter far beyond Lebanon if the violence resumes at scale.

The Lebanese embassy in Washington said the agreement would not end the conflict in Lebanon. U.S. officials also warned that renewed fighting could jeopardize the wider U.S.-Iran agreement, even as follow-on Lebanese-Israeli talks were expected in Washington the following week. The U.S. State Department reiterated its call to disarm Hezbollah and restore full Lebanese state control over all territory, signaling that the cease-fire was only the first step in a much harder political fight.