WASHINGTON/BEIRUT – US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the current 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by three weeks.

The announcement came shortly after the two countries held their second ambassador-level talks in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon.

The United States is going to work with the government of Lebanon to help it protect itself from Hezbollah, Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump met with representatives of Israel and Lebanon in the Oval Office, along with US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon.

"The Meeting went very well!" Trump claimed, providing no details. "I look forward in the near future to hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun," he added.

Trump said last week he was expecting to meet Netanyahu and Aoun at the White House "over the next week or two" in hopes that the two sides could broker a peace deal, which will also address Hezbollah.

The 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect on April 16, following weeks of intensified cross-border fighting amid the US-Israeli war against Iran. The truce has remained fragile as tensions along Lebanon's southern border have continued during the current ceasefire.

Israel and Lebanon have no formal diplomatic relations, and Hezbollah has long been viewed by Israel as a "proxy" of Iran. The negotiating party with Israel is the Lebanese government, not Hezbollah.

Call for halting talks

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Thursday called on Lebanese authorities to stop direct talks with Israel, warning that continued engagement gives political cover to ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

"Lebanon must halt all forms of direct communication with the enemy," Fadlallah said at a parliament press conference, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

Israel has continued its assaults on Lebanon's southern border villages, with drone strikes, artillery shelling, and direct gunfire, he said.

The resistance "will not accept a one-sided ceasefire" while Israeli attacks persist, he said, voicing opposition to Israel imposing new "red lines."

He also slammed Israeli forces for blocking rescue teams from reaching civilian victims, including two journalists, in the southern town of Al-Tiri, describing it as a "war crime" targeting unarmed civilians.