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Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States on Friday in announcing a framework agreement described as the first step toward peace following months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
Officials did not release details of the agreement, which was signed by Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh.
Hamadeh said the framework “is a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security, and prosperity.”
Leiter described the agreement as the beginning of a broader effort to achieve lasting peace between Israel and Lebanon.
“Real peace, where both countries will live in security, where Israel’s and Lebanon’s sovereignty will be respected, honored, and protected,” Leiter said. “In this performance-based trilateral framework agreement, Iran is out. Hezbollah is out. And the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in.”
The announcement follows months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that displaced civilians on both sides of the border and raised fears of a broader regional conflict.
While officials described the agreement as an important diplomatic breakthrough, they emphasized that it represents an initial framework rather than a final peace accord.
“The most important thing, first and foremost, is that Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “This is a major achievement, and we will maintain it as long as Hezbollah has not been disarmed and as long as it continues to pose a threat to the State of Israel.”
Neither the State Department nor the Israeli and Lebanese delegations disclosed implementation timelines or specific provisions, and no additional details were immediately released regarding the framework’s next steps.