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One World with Zain Asher
Trump: Israel And Lebanon Reach 10-Day Ceasefire Deal; Trump: I Will Be Inviting Netanyahu And Aoun To The White House; Lebanese Media: Israel Destroys Last Bridge Over Litani River; Lebanon's Prime Minister Welcomes Ceasefire Announcement; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired April 16, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:55]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You are watching the second hour of "One World."
And we begin with breaking news. President Trump says that Israel and Lebanon have reached a 10-day ceasefire deal.
ASHER: Yes. He says a ceasefire will begin at 5 o'clock Eastern Time. That's about five hours or so from now.
The U.S. president held calls with both Lebanon's President, Aoun, and the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, just the past few hours.
And he's just posted to social media that he's invited both the President Aoun and Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House for the first meeting
in decades.
GOLODRYGA: Let's get reaction from the White House. Kevin Liptak is there for us.
And, Kevin, it appears that perhaps President Trump was the first to announce this. And even taking Prime Minister Netanyahu by surprise in
terms of the how quick he put this post up.
Just walk us through the parameters here, what the president is saying, or perhaps lack of details in what he is saying as to what the ceasefire
entails.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, he says it will, as you said, begin at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time. He says it will last 10 days.
It came about after separate conversations that he held this morning with the Lebanese president and the Israeli prime minister. You know, he had
suggested in a separate Truth Social post, many, many hours before that, that perhaps those two leaders would get on the phone directly for
discussions.
It does not appear as if that has happened. But the president is saying that in his individual conversations with Aoun and Netanyahu that they were
able to agree to this 10-day ceasefire.
And, of course, this had been a major sticking point as the president works to get a deal with Iran to end that conflict.
It had been clear to all sides that Israel's ongoing requirements inside of Lebanon would be a -- would be hindrance to that.
Essentially, a deal wouldn't be able to be agreed to if that -- if those strikes were continuing. Now, the president saying that it -- he has done
just that.
He says that on Tuesday, the two countries had met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington with Marco Rubio.
And the president going on to say that he had directed his Vice President, J.D. Vance and Rubio, along with the Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine to
work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a lasting peace.
And so what the parameters of this are, we don't know. Of course, Israel has been going after Hezbollah inside of Lebanon. Lebanon, as a government,
doesn't necessarily have control over Hezbollah. It's an Iranian proxy group.
And so whether they are brought into this, we don't know. And whether they continue their strikes against Israel, we don't know as well. And so there
are still, I think, a lot of unknowns about what exactly this ceasefire will look like.
But the president seems hopeful that he is accomplishing history here. When he talks about inviting Netanyahu and Aoun to come visit the White House,
he's putting it in historical context saying that it will be the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983. He seems to be
envisioning, you know, something akin to the Camp David Accords from 1978, when Egypt and Israel normalized their relations with the mediation of
Jimmy Carter in the United States.
And so the president, I think, hopeful here that he has accomplished something that will unlock these negotiations with Iran, as optimism seems
to be growing about another round of discussions between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan sometime soon.
The president seems hopeful that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon will advance those discussions and make a positive outcome more
likely, even as questions remain about what exactly this ceasefire will consist of.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Kevin Liptak, thank you.
ASHER: All right. Let's go straight now to our Nic Robertson who is in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistan, obviously, pushing for a second round of
talks between the U.S. and Iran.
So, Nic, just in terms of this sort of temporary ceasefire, this 10-day ceasefire that's been agreed to by Israel and by Lebanon, how that is going
to affect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
[12:05:07]
It means that one major flashpoint, not necessarily eliminated, but at least put on hold for now. Obviously, it is positive for the ceasefire and
it really adds momentum to the ceasefire actually holding.
But there are still a number of other core issues that are at stake here, notwithstanding the nuclear enrichment issue, and obviously, the issue when
it comes to the blockade. This is just one of several issues, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is. And it was a very important issue. We'd heard that from the Pakistani foreign ministry
this morning. We'd heard it from Iranian officials today as well reiterating because, of course, you have the top Pakistani negotiators,
mediators in Tehran right now, the field martial Asim Munir, the interior minister.
They met last night with the Iranian foreign minister. They met today with the lead Iranian negotiator, the -- the speaker of the parliament.
And they also had meetings, by the way, with -- with some of the top Iranian military officials. So their talks in Iran have been focused about
how to get Iran to compromise its position. J.D. Vance left here saying that the -- that U.S. was putting a final or -- or best and final offer on
the table. So, the ball was in the Iranian court.
But I think one of the bigger picture takeaways here is going to be not just that there's a Lebanon ceasefire deal that's temporary, that will
hopefully come into place, but it's how it happened.
Look, the Iranians left here really disappointed, lacking in trust, feeling that the goalposts have been moved by the U.S. negotiators. So trust is at
a massive deficit. So, they will have watched what's been happening, the ping pong diplomacy that's been happening, on again, off again, possible
ceasefire.
A call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon, on again, off again.
And then President Trump, very visibly, announced publicly, getting involved, calling both those leaders on the phone.
So what the Iranians will see is that the president being really committed to delivering in a timely fashion, while Pakistani negotiators are still in
Tehran. So you think of the timing. We have to think that the timing of these events is not a coincidence.
So, the Iranians now, perhaps getting a sense of President Trump's intent to try to make a deal, a more permanent deal with Iran happen. So, is that
enough to get Iran to compromise on those core issues, particularly the nuclear enrichment, the access to those nuclear enrichment sites, what
material should be taken, who should take it, what country should it go to?
All of those very vexed questions. Can Iran look at the events of the last couple of hours and soften its position enough for the Pakistani delegation
there to be able to call President Trump and say the talks are on, and therefore potentially J.D. Vance come back into Islamabad to continue those
trilateral face-to-face talks.
ASHER: All right. Nic Robertson, live for us there in Islamabad and Pakistan. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Let's bring in Steven Cook, senior fellow from Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Steven, good
to see you.
So, as we just heard from Nic, Pakistan and Iranians, as we're hoping to see renewed negotiations in Pakistan, Iran is watching closely and seeing
that the president, in fact, is delivering a ceasefire, but they're also seeing something historic.
The fact that the president has brought together the Israeli leaders and the Lebanese leader for perhaps a summit, imminently. You had officials
meeting in Washington earlier this week.
How is that angle of all of this sitting with Iran?
STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA STUDIES AT THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, this puts Iran in a very difficult position.
The Iranians would not like Lebanon to fall under the Israeli sphere of influence and the American sphere of influence in the region, and perhaps
be the next country to normalize relations with Jerusalem.
So, while as the Iranians need a ceasefire, and -- and I think Nic Robertson made it clear that this might be a piece of that to get to a
better place in terms of negotiations between the United States and Iran.
It is -- it is a challenge for the Iranians because his law is quite unpopular. Israel and Lebanon can be partners in undermining Hezbollah
further and they'll have support, outside support from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other players like the French.
So perhaps the Iranians will support this from a tactical perspective. But over the longer term, I can expect them to try to undermine any kind of
reproached moment between Israel and Lebanon.
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ASHER: Steven, I'd like to get your perspective on how this 10-day ceasefire between the Israelis and the Lebanese will affect Netanyahu
politically.
You know, while in this country, here in the U.S., the number one sort of main political issue, at least right now, there's a lot of talk about gas
prices before the midterms.
In Israel, the number one political issue is, of course, security. And there's going to be a lot of fear and concern among Israelis that this
temporary ceasefire that all it does is going to allow Hezbollah to reposition, rearm, regroup.
And on top of that, you've got the fighting with Iran paused without either side, either the U.S. or Israel anywhere close to achieving their
objectives, be it of regime change, or, you know, this idea that Iran should never be able to have a nuclear weapon.
How will that affect Netanyahu, Steven?
COOK: Yes. In fact, there was a poll that was released by the Israel Democracy Institute just today, which indicated that it met 80 percent of
the Israeli public supported continuing the fight against Hezbollah. This is sort of the post-October 7th mindset among Israelis, where they don't
want to necessarily manage their security threats on their borders. They want to resolve them.
And so, Netanyahu is clearly being jammed by President Trump. His security cabinet could not come to a decision last evening on a ceasefire, and the
president went ahead and announced one anyway.
So, Netanyahu is already in a difficult political position. His coalition is only polling the implied number of seats in the legislature, only about
50 seats if the election were held today, which is far short of the majority he needs to form another government. So, he is in a difficult
position.
Recently, you've seen him put spin on it, show that, you know, a lot of damage has been done to the Iranians. And he's right. A lot of damage has
been done to the Iranian war machine. There's been a lot of damage to its proxies, but they have not been able to translate those tactical
accomplishments on the battlefield into Israel's strategic goals.
And that, I think, is frustrating Israelis, and I think it's frustrating Israelis with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
GOLODRYGA: And that's where you see the disconnect continue with messaging from the prime minister politically, saying that they will settle for
nothing less than total victory and defeat, whereas, as we saw in Gaza as well, military officials in the establishment say that these operations
have indeed been quite successful, but their goals had never been complete and utter defeat and victory.
Steven, when it comes to Iran, yes, there hasn't been regime change. The nuclear problem still remains. But the devastation to Iran's infrastructure
does seem to be quite intense.
There's a "Wall Street Journal" report today saying that it looks worse than the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War, which obviously lasted many years.
So, in this sense, are we finally saying perhaps Iran not being able to stick this out as long as they pretended or publicly postured, they could?
COOK: Indeed. And I think the blockade that the United States has laid on to Iranian ports and ships traveling to and out of Iran is making an
impression. Iran has been devastated. The United States and Israel have targeted, as you point out, economic infrastructure, dual-use
infrastructure, the war machine that the Iranians have built over time. And they are facing a massive, massive reconstruction bill. They do need a
ceasefire.
The -- I think the concern is that get involved in a negotiation with the Iranians and they will drag it out forever. But that, in and of itself, is
a -- is a -- a success for them.
So, I think both Americans, as well as Israelis, may have to settle for this kind of messy ending to this conflict, despite the triumphal rhetoric
that the president has been using about regime change and the goals that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has continued to articulate about
continuing until total victory.
ASHER: Steven, I love the point you made about the sort of Israeli post- October 7th mindset. That it's no longer just about managing these conflicts on their borders, you know, every so often, but actually
resolving them for once and for all.
But when you think about the fact that just 18 months ago, Israel was at war with Hezbollah, now they're back at it again.
In this sort of short period, has Israel achieved any of its short-term objectives, military objectives, against Hezbollah?
COOK: Well, it certainly had achieved something very significant in 2024. Unfortunately, the Iranians pumped about a billion dollars into Hezbollah
under the noses of absolutely everybody in the year since that ceasefire went into effect.
But here's the important thing. The ceasefire and diplomatic process between Israel and Lebanon, which is in a very nascent stage, has the
ability to help Israelis achieve that strategic objective.
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It's no secret that Hezbollah is quite unpopular among Lebanese. And the Israelis do have a partner in Beirut in wanting to tear out the state
within a state that Hezbollah and its patron Iran built over the course of 40 years.
The problem is, is that the Israelis, who in this post-October 7 mindset, have used the military option, have not used the diplomatic option to their
benefit. And now, it seems that the president is forcing them into a negotiation that may actually end to their great benefit. There may
actually be strategic change.
GOLODRYGA: And, yes, we're getting reports that the Israeli security establishment has said that even during the ceasefire, they have no plans
to withdraw forces from Southern Lebanon where they're currently positioned at this point.
Steven, with the, I guess, positive move of the Lebanese government saying that their goal now is to disarm Hezbollah, and at some points even
threatening to kick Iranian officials out of the country. That is one thing, but action is quite different.
So, what needs to be taken militarily, financially? What steps and perhaps what can the United States do to help foster implementing some of these
very important goals and statements they're making?
COOK: I think that's a very, very good question. The Lebanese government had committed to disarming Hezbollah and undermining the state within a
state that it had built, including an economy that was geared towards ensuring Hezbollah's dominance of -- of Lebanon.
One of the things that the United States can do here is use the full force of our economic tools in order to help the Lebanese do this.
It's -- we have to be sensitive to the fact that Lebanese leadership does not in full recognition of the Civil War that was fought in Lebanon between
1975 and 1989, not do anything that trips the country into communal violence once again.
So we need to be very careful here about counseling the -- the -- the Lebanese government to use military force against its own people, but they
should be able to, given how weak Hezbollah has been.
The Lebanese Armed Forces should be able to move into areas and take weapons from Hezbollah if they have the support of the government, the
international community, the Saudis, the United States, the French.
There is a diplomatic component here that is important that was not part of as strong as it should have been in the year after the -- the ceasefire. I
think the United States had unrealistic timelines for disarming Hezbollah.
Now, perhaps, there will be a reset and the Aoun government -- the Aoun leadership that President Aoun and the Prime Minister Nawaf Salam will have
the ability now to isolate Hezbollah even further with the help of its partners, including Israel.
GOLODRYGA: It will be interesting to see if this becomes another permanent issue under Marco Rubio's portfolio to oversee as he was the one who was
conducting those historic talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials this week in Washington.
Steven Cook, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
COOK: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Our breaking news coverage continues after this break.
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[12:20:13]
ASHER: Live pictures here of the Israel-Lebanon border where it's just about seven o'clock in the evening.
Let's update you on the breaking news. President Trump has posted on social media that a ceasefire is going to be going into effect between Lebanon and
Israel in about five hours from now.
GOLODRYGA: Israel has pounded what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, even amid the ceasefire between Iran and the United States, which
is set to expire in less than a week.
An Israeli official tells CNN the country's security cabinet is convening.
To discuss the ceasefire, let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem.
And, Jeremy, there's a reporting of some real frustration among that security cabinet in the sense that this ceasefire was announced before they
officially voted on it.
Just walk us through the reaction in Jerusalem and what this means in terms of any action from Israel over the next 10 days.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, President Trump's announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon effectively, you know, between
Israel and Hezbollah, although it is officially between Israel and Lebanon, came as Prime Minister Netanyahu was convening a conference call with his
security cabinet to discuss this very ceasefire proposal.
And so what's clear is that President Trump very much seems to have been the responsible party here enforcing this ceasefire through. It came amid,
you know, days of mounting pressure from the United States towards Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
You'll recall, if you think back to a week ago, we were looking at a situation where President Trump was urging Prime Minister Netanyahu to
scale back strikes and then ultimately beginning to pressure him for a ceasefire.
The prime minister, though, has been resisting calls for a ceasefire. It was as recently as a few days ago that he insisted that, you know, the
fighting was very much continuing in Lebanon, that there is no ceasefire in place.
And Israeli officials telling us that Israel would only conduct negotiations with Lebanon, quote unquote, under fire.
But clearly, the pressure here came to a boiling point where following the initial meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington
at the State Department. It became clear that there was real momentum here towards having negotiations between these two countries.
And from the Lebanese point of view, they were insisting that a ceasefire needed to be in place in order for those discussions to develop.
In fact, it was only today that we saw that after the notion was floated of a call between the Israeli prime minister and the Lebanese president, the
Lebanese basically said that that was not happening, and that seems to be largely in part because a ceasefire was not yet in place.
And so very shortly following that, within a matter of hours, we now have this announcement from President Trump that there will be a ceasefire
agreement taking effect officially at 5:00 P.M. Eastern time, so less than five hours from now.
And in addition to that, we also saw this quite striking announcement of the President inviting the Israeli prime minister and the Lebanese
president to the White House in order to engage in peace talks, in broader talks about normalizing the relationship between Israel and Lebanon.
These are, by far, the most substantive negotiations we've seen between Israel and Lebanon in more than 40 years since 1983.
But even since then, you know, we have never seen fully normalized relations between these two countries. And now that very much seems to be
the aim of this White House.
The bigger picture, of course, is the U.S. Iran ceasefire. And President Trump seems to have brought this pressure to bear on Israel in part in
order to keep that U.S.-Iran ceasefire alive and to kind of continue pushing forward the diplomatic solution on that broader conflict very much
needed to be tied to a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon as well.
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The Iranians have been insisting on it for some time now. And now again, we do see this announcement of a ceasefire. A number of questions still
remain, but -- but a major announcement now from the president.
ASHER: And, Jeremy, so how will Netanyahu, though, frame this ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon domestically? I mean, obviously, yes, it's
temporary. It's only 10 days.
But for voters who are a bit more to the right, who are a bit more sort of security-minded, he doesn't want to look like he has backed down or offered
sort of too many concessions. How will he frame it?
DIAMOND: Yes. And it's not even just the right in Israel. I mean, 80 percent of Israelis, according to recent polling, wanted Israel to continue
striking and fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
They were -- this is a -- a country where the majority of the country was not in favor of a ceasefire with Lebanon. And that is a very real political
reality that the Israeli prime minister is and will have to contend with.
I think he will certainly lean on the fact that it is a temporary 10-day ceasefire. That it is in order to allow for the possibility of
negotiations, maybe he will signal that he sees a potential major breakthrough on -- on the horizon that could kind of begin to change the
face of this region.
But so many challenges still remain. You know, as Israel and Lebanon engage in these negotiations, the key will be disarming Hezbollah. And while the
political will certainly now exists in Lebanon in a way that it didn't before, the capacity to actually carry that out on the ground is still
lacking.
The Lebanese army is incredibly weak, in particular, as, vis-a-vis Hezbollah's paramilitary strength inside of Lebanon. There's no desire in
Lebanon for aggressive action that could potentially tilt the country back into civil war.
And so there are a number of considerations that Lebanon is going to need some real international support in order to actually carry this out and a
broader kind of political and diplomatic framework in order for it to happen.
One last thing that we're still waiting to hear about is, what does -- what happens to the -- to the Israeli military positions inside of Lebanon?
Because we have Israeli troops right now inside of Lebanon, as far as 10 kilometers inside of Lebanese territory.
There's nothing about this temporary ceasefire agreement that indicates that they are going to be withdrawn at this moment.
ASHER: Jeremy Diamond, reporting from Jerusalem for us. Thank you so much.
We'll have much more on this breaking news announcement of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon set to start in four and a half hours from now.
More news after the short break.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
[12:30:50]
GOLODRYGA: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher.
We are tracking a very important ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon. And just the past hour, U.S. President Trump made that announcement on
Truth Social, saying that this ceasefire is going to be lasting for 10 days. He's inviting both leaders of both countries to the White House as
well.
GOLODRYGA: Earlier, Lebanese state media reported the Israeli military demolished the last bridge over the Litani River. This move cutting off
tens of thousands of people in the south from crucial aid links.
The Israeli military tells CNN, while forces did not target the bridge, they did attack in the vicinity. An official tells us that the Israeli
security cabinet is convening now to discuss the ceasefire.
Joining us is Miri Eisin, who is a senior fellow at the International Institute for Counterterrorism. She also previously served in the Israeli
intelligence community.
And, Miri, I mean, I kind of scoffed at that introduction there that the Security Council is still discussing this ceasefire because I don't know
what clout or authority they have at this point, given that the president has trumped them literally by announcing this 10-day ceasefire.
So, what does this mean for Israel? How is this being perceived internally?
MIRI EISIN, SENIOR FELLOW, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR COUNTERTERRORISM: Here I am sitting and suddenly it popped up. I got that Truth Social and I
was like, oh, the president of the United States announced two things. He said the word ceasefire, and then he said a lot of the word peace.
And we were sitting here in Israel and going, oh, the president of the United States just informed us. This is after all day long what happens
towards a ceasefire. And this is something that happens here every time. And this was true also with the ceasefire with Iran, is that there's an
upgrade in the amount of direct confrontation, meaning up north right now.
Israelis who live in Nahariya and (INAUDIBLE) all the places up north, there's been a heavy duty fire of incoming rockets, incoming missiles,
incoming UAVs. So we were all expecting the announcement. We just didn't expect it to come from the president of the United States.
ASHER: That's such an important point. And just in terms of -- I mean, this is really where the real work begins, right? You've got the ceasefire now.
It's a temporary one.
I'm just curious for you. I mean, what are the most important things that need to happen over the next 10 days? Because as I was mentioning to our
previous guests, Israel's number one concern is security, security, especially generally, but especially, as it pertains to Hezbollah at its
northern border.
And I think a lot of people are going to be concerned that this temporary pause, even though it is a short one, is just going to allow Hezbollah time
to sort of reposition and regroup, rearm that kind of thing.
And so give us your take on what needs to happen over the next 10 days, Miri.
EISIN: So, Zain, I want to give a call out in that sense also to the people up north and what they want to have happen in the next 10 days.
Because I live here in the greater Tel Aviv area and I look at it in one way. But if I drive an hour and a half to the north, to those that have
been for the last 10 days stuck next to their safe rooms, you can't go to work, you can't go to school. You know, that's total abnormal type life.
What they want right now is for Hezbollah, on the other side of the border, to be disarmed. And our challenge is that we in Israel, and that's why
there's such broad support. We're not warmongers. We're trying to find a way to disarm Hezbollah, that terror army that's been so heavily armed by
the Islamic regime of Iran.
So who right now in these 10 days is going to make sure that they don't rearm, that they don't bring more weapons down south, that they don't take
from the weapons that are up north, that Israel has not been attacking inside Lebanon, come down closer to the border, to make sure that those
terror army that have been there the whole time and their confrontations all the time will not continue to rebuild themselves.
For Israel, that's the main issue. And in this sense, that big question where I said the fist, and that's where if we sound warmonger, we don't
mean to be, but we're all very excited and have been for this last week about the possibility of it being a fist together with a hand, meaning it
isn't just about hitting Hezbollah. We would love to see the continuation of open direct talks with Lebanon. That for us is something is a dream.
We border Lebanon, a 138-kilometer border. Let's have peace. But that means somebody has to disarm Hezbollah.
[12:35:07]
GOLODRYGA: So, Miri, does that suggest that perhaps, and I know you've reiterated how much you ultimately want peace, you also want security.
Is it your view? Do you think that the security cabinet, if they actually were able to determine, whether there would be a ceasefire in place tonight
or not, should there be?
EISIN: So, I don't always do these in the hypothetical questions. I think that the Israeli security cabinet, and for that bulk, 80 percent of
Israelis thought that we need to continue to do what I call the fist or not a ceasefire against Hezbollah.
And, yes, it's in Lebanon. And, yes, Hezbollah are Arabic speaking Lebanese Shiites. But at the end, this is against Hezbollah that are a terror proxy
army supplied and inspired by the Islamic regime of Iran. And they're on my border to the north. They've been firing into us.
That -- that's why you want to continue the fist. Because the question here is, will Lebanon do so? And to us, there's a quite clear-cut answer. And
it's not a nice one.
I have no expectations of Lebanon, the Lebanese Armed Forces, in any way, trying to even disarm Hezbollah. I just don't see that happening.
GOLODRYGA: Perhaps that's why, according to at least IDF officials right now, they are not retrenching. They are not moving their positions from
where they are currently in Southern Lebanon or for the next 10 days, at least. We'll see if that changes.
Miri Eisin, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate your perspective.
And we'll have a view from Lebanon after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: All right. More now on our breaking news. We are a little over four hours until a ceasefire is expected to go into effect in Lebanon. The
U.S. president announced a 10-day ceasefire a little while ago on social media.
ASHER: Yes. Donald Trump also said he's inviting both the Israeli prime minister and Lebanese president to the White House. It would be a historic
meeting between the two leaders.
Maha Yahya is the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. She joins us live now from Beirut. Maha, thank you so much for being with us.
I was just thinking to myself what the sentiment must be like in Lebanon right -- right now. And I would imagine it is relief but certainly cautious
relief. Because first of all, the ceasefire only lasts 10 days.
But on top of that, the Lebanese have seen this movie before. This idea of there being sort of temporary pause in the fighting and then the fighting
resuming.
[12:40:01]
Give us your take on -- on what the sentiment is. If you could generalize, I mean, I understand that obviously different people either support
Hezbollah or loathe Hezbollah, but just broadly walk us through the sentiment on the ground there.
MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Good evening. Thank you for having me.
Look, is there whatever, you know, irrespective of the position vis-a-vis Hezbollah, there is a sigh of relief across the country.
Yes, a very cautious one, but you know, any respite from the bombing is a welcome respite. If it's one week, it's 10 days, we hope it'll be
permanent.
The last ceasefire was in 2024, and during the year and few months that where there was supposed to be ceasefire, Israel did not stop bombing
Lebanon. The targeted attacks continued, the bombings continued. I think there were 15,000 infractions of the ceasefire. We're hoping that this
time, at least for those 10 days, while something bigger is worked out, there will be an effective ceasefire that will allow people to go to their
homes, check on their properties, literally figure their lives out.
There are 1.2 million people who've been displaced. Many of those will not be able to go back home, but at least for those whose homes live in areas
that will not be under direct Israeli occupation, i.e. north of the Litani River.
They can at least go back home for a period until things get, you know, we see where this is going to go.
Mind you, the ceasefire south of the Litani, to my mind, is a big question, because there are actual -- there's an actual fighting happening face to
face on the ground and cities like (INAUDIBLE) and other places.
So, it's not clear to me how the ceasefire is going to apply there. Does this mean Israeli ground operations are going to come to a halt or simply
that the area of bombardment is going to stop?
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that is a big question, Maha. And IDF officials have reportedly said that they will remain in those positions over the course of
those 10 days.
And as you talk about the concern of residents coming back home in southern Lebanon, as we heard from our previous guests, the same concern holds for
Israelis and whether or not they can have security in coming back to their homes in Northern Israel.
And I'm wondering how you envision Hezbollah interpreting this. On the one hand, perhaps this is the reprieve that they were hoping for. And maybe
this gives them a chance to rearm.
On the other hand, how are they viewing this dual announcement from President Trump, not just that of a ceasefire, but the fact that he's now
invited the leaders from both Israel and Lebanon to the White House for another peace deal that he's hoping to seal.
YAHYA: Just the two things. The difference between Israelis coming back to their homes in the north is they can't come back if there's a ceasefire.
They have homes to come back too.
In south Lebanon, you've got an entire zone that at least leaked plans are indicating. Israel has no intention of allowing people to come back home.
And even if they wanted to go back, these areas, these villages, were talking about 30 -- upwards of 30 something villages that have been
completely dynamited. They are destroyed and there's continued military presence.
Then there's a zone. This is about eight -- eight to 10 kilometers, Zain. Then there's a zone between that and the Litani River where there is active
military presence on the ground and people cannot go back home.
So, I think it's -- there's a problem there in the -- in terms of the equivalence, if you like. People on both sides should be allowed to go back
to their homes without any threat to their lives.
In terms of how Hezbollah is interpreting this, it's very difficult to rearm in the space of 10 days.
You know, I'm sure drones will continue to monitor what's going on. Satellites, I mean, we live in the -- in the era of no privacy. Everything
is visible to everyone. So it'd be very difficult to rearm.
Will it be respite for everyone? Probably. But I don't think for Hezbollah, this is a kind of a chance to rebuild as such. This is a much longer
process.
They're looking at this as something that Iran negotiated. Many of their parliamentarians and their, you know, the -- the people aligned with them,
media personalities, et cetera, have been talking about Iran pushing for the ceasefire. So they're looking at it as a -- as a concession that was
obtained by Iran.
[12:45:03]
Now in the grand scheme of things, it's very clear for me what it reflects is that President Trump is hoping probably that this ceasefire will also
allow a broader agreement with Iran or would be one element that will allow a broader agreement with Iran elsewhere.
ASHER: Just in terms of what this means for Lebanon, I mean there's a saying that I'm -- I'm sure you've heard as it pertains to health, that the
sick person has one problem, the healthy person has a thousand problems.
When you think about how that pertains to Lebanon, I promise you I'm going somewhere with this, Maya. When you are dealing with a war, that is your
main focus is your survival, that is it. You can't think about any other -- any of the sort of other issues that your country is contending with.
And I think it's important to note that this war is happening in the context of Lebanon experiencing a massive economic crisis. That is
important to mention too.
And for the past, however, sort of six, seven weeks, its entire attention, the intention of the entire country, especially in the south, has been
diverted to the fact that there is a war happening with Israel.
You point out the number of people who have been displaced, the number of people who have been killed, hospitals that are no longer functioning.
You're talking about people who can't go back to their homes.
But put that aside temporarily. Talk to us about the other problems that Lebanon is facing, especially as it pertains to its financial situation.
YAHYA: Well, I mean, Lebanon has been basically witnessed an experience, a complete economic collapse in 2019. And the -- we're still living the
ripple effects of that collapse.
The -- this current government came in with a mandate to try and address the -- basically the structural problems that led to this collapse.
Two out of three laws were issued. They were working with the IMF to make sure all the necessary reforms were take -- were basically were passed.
Were they moving fast enough? No. But they were moving and trying to get all of these laws through the -- through the door as they say.
But this country, like many other countries around the world, the -- if you want or maybe even more than other countries, given the power sharing
system that we have, the intersection between political and business interests.
It's been very difficult because the pushback against the reforms we've needed have come from very different parts of the country if you want or
power systems within the country, power centers.
So, there is a desperate need now because the laws that were passed, particularly the final law, which is about hierarchy of claims in the -- in
the banking system and giving people access to their money.
And what the collapse meant is that all Lebanese that had money in the -- in the banking system literally lost access to this money. So, all of our
savings, pensions, everything. And there was a currency collapse just to make it more tangible for readers.
So, the law was trying to say, OK, we will give access to X amount to people who have less than 100,000 in the bank. I mean, they were trying to
create hierarchy of claims that would be more just towards the poor population.
The problem is that law hasn't been passed. And today, many people have used up what every little savings they have in repairing what was destroyed
in 2024.
I was just speaking to somebody who's from (INAUDIBLE). They've lost everything, literally all of them. They had businesses, you know, that's --
their city, they did there. They've -- they had businesses that they've lost that have been completely destroyed, their home has been destroyed. So
now, they're without any economic means and they have no home to go back to.
This is not something that the government -- a government that has no financial means, whose fiscal space has completely shrunk, will be able to
address without international support and very serious international support.
ASHER: Thank you for raising that issue. Just in terms of, you know, I think it's important for our audience to know what ordinary Lebanese
civilians, especially the ones, most obviously they don't have any part of this war. And so what they have been going through is utterly devastating.
Maha Yahya, thank you so much.
We'll be right back with more after this short break.
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[12:50:28]
ASHER: All right. Back to our top story.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Let's go to our Nick Robertson, who is joining us from Islamabad. Nic, this might be a premature question, but obviously 10 days isn't that much time.
What are the likely sort of different scenarios on day 11?
ROBERTSON: That there's -- there has been a broader ceasefire deal between Israel, the United States and Iran. And that -- that sort of takes the
bigger context, if you will. And that's the sort of most optimistic view.
The other view is that there is some sort of deal possibly allowing ships to move in and out of the Strait of Hormuz that defuses some of the
tensions inside the Middle East at the moment, but -- but doesn't deal with the sort of longer term, bigger tensions. And then in that context, the --
the ceasefire with Lebanon breaks down.
You know, I think that what President Trump is looking at here and what the negotiators, the Pakistan negotiators, are looking at here is to try to use
this moment to -- of a Lebanon ceasefire, albeit a short one that does extend beyond the current Iran-U.S. Israel ceasefire, to use that moment to
try to solidify what they can.
And I think there's a sense on the Pakistan side that this is something that they have been pushing for before, if we go back to before the talks
last weekend, right when the ceasefire was -- was first announced. Pakistan was insisting that it believed that Lebanon was part of that ceasefire
deal.
So I -- so I think there's a possibility here in the best case to try to use this.
But -- but the worst-case scenario, the absolute worst-case scenario, would be that there remains a lack of trust, that Iran continues its sort of
tactics of prevarication, inconsistency, and -- and -- and ambiguity that just doesn't mesh with President Trump's style of negotiating, that there
is no broader U.S.-Iran-Israel deal, that that war kicks up, that the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked.
And Israel continues to target Hezbollah activity and Hezbollah fighters inside of Lebanon. And in which case, the price of oil stands no chance of
coming down. And this -- this very -- already very complex situation becomes worse because you get more real-world ripple effects coming out,
tensions in the region grow again, and -- and social unrest, if we're really extrapolating this out to countries around the world, where -- where
jet fuel, fuel for cars to get to work is in short supply or radically expensive.
[12:55:23]
ASHER: All right. Nic Robertson, live for us there. Thank you so much.
And just a quick reminder to everyone of our breaking news, that President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social, just moments ago, about an hour or
so ago, that Israel and Lebanon have now agreed to a 10-day ceasefire. That ceasefire is going to begin in about four hours from now.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And the president said that he is going to invite both the Israeli and Lebanese leaders to the White House. An official tells us the
Israeli security cabinet is convening now to discuss the ceasefire. It seems that the decision has already been made, though, from President Trump
making this announcement. So, we'll see how this plays out domestically and internally within Israel.
And what this means, I guess, bigger picture for potential talks once again to be held in Islamabad between Iranian officials and U.S. officials, what
this means about either extending the current ceasefire between these two countries or, as we heard from the defense secretary this morning, that
there are more military options available as well.
All right. That does it for "One World" today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Thank you so much for watching. "Amanpour" is up next.
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