Israel and Lebanon have signed a framework agreement with the United States, in a move presented as a first step toward peace after months of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah movement. According to LiveNOW FOX, citing the Associated Press, the deal was announced in Washington on June 26 by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who described it as the opening of a long road toward ending the conflict.
The agreement was signed at the State Department by the Israeli ambassador to the United States and the ambassador of Lebanon to the United States, with Rubio appearing alongside them to present the trilateral framework. Officials said they were not yet releasing the specific terms of what had been agreed, describing the document instead as a starting point for further negotiations.
Rubio framed the moment as a cautious but significant breakthrough. He said the goal was a future of peace, prosperity and mutual coexistence for the people of both countries, adding that the parties had taken a first step in what would be a difficult journey, but one he called essential and necessary.
On the Lebanese side, officials speaking on behalf of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam thanked President Donald Trump, Rubio and the US team for hosting and facilitating the talks in Washington. They said the trilateral framework signed on Friday was a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity and to securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities.
The Lebanese statement also tied the agreement to the return of displaced people, saying the framework was intended to enable residents to go back to their land and to allow all Lebanese to live in peace, security and prosperity. The language pointed to the heavy toll of the fighting along the border and inside southern Lebanon over recent months.
The signing followed five rounds of talks held in Washington and came after Rubio had recently traveled through the Middle East as part of the diplomatic push. The negotiations were structured as an arrangement between the governments of Israel and Lebanon, with the United States acting as mediator, and the text repeatedly emphasized the authority of the Lebanese state over its own territory.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group at the center of the conflict with Israel, was not a party to the negotiations, a point that leaves open questions about how the framework will hold in practice. With details still undisclosed and implementation only beginning, officials cautioned that the agreement marks the start rather than the conclusion of efforts to turn a fragile understanding into a lasting peace.