Inside the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announced by Trump: When it starts, what it includes, and why it is historic

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, a potentially major diplomatic breakthrough in a war that has widened the fallout from the broader regional conflict with Iran and pushed the two longtime enemies into their most direct political engagement in decades.

According to Trump, the truce is set today April 16 to begin at 5 p.m. Eastern.

The announcement came after rare U.S.-mediated contacts in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese officials, a remarkable development on its own given that the two countries remain formally at war and do not have normal diplomatic relations. The Associated Press reported those talks were the first direct diplomatic contacts in more than 30 years.

Trump invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House. "Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

What is clear so far is that the ceasefire, as announced by Trump, is temporary. He described it as a 10-day halt in fighting, not a permanent peace deal.

Trump said he had "excellent conversations" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, and that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine had been tasked with helping move the process toward a broader settlement.

The immediate trigger for the diplomacy was the sharp escalation that followed the wider U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The Lebanon front reignited on March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Iran, drawing heavy Israeli strikes and expanding a conflict that had already rattled energy markets, global shipping lanes and civilian life across the region. Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 2,100 people and displaced around 1.2 million, while Israel has reported 15 deaths from Hezbollah attacks.

The conditions behind the ceasefire appear to be political as much as military.

Lebanon had made clear that a truce was a precondition for deeper negotiations, and President Aoun had urged Washington to help secure a halt to hostilities before any broader diplomatic step. At the same time, Israeli officials had been signaling that any political track would still be tied to their central war aim in Lebanon, namely weakening or dismantling Hezbollah's military capacity in the south. Reuters reported this week that Netanyahu said Israel's goals remained the defeat of Hezbollah and the pursuit of long-term peace from a position of strength.