Hezbollah Agrees to Partial Ceasefire Near Beirut as Israel Deepens Ground Offensive in Southern Lebanon and Iran Pauses Nuclear Talks With US

Lebanon announced a partial ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah on June 1, according to multiple reports citing Lebanese officials. The arrangement calls for Israel to halt strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs while Hezbollah stops attacks on Israel, though hostilities in southern Lebanon continued into the evening.

Israeli ground forces continued advancing toward the Zaharani River on June 1, marking their deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would continue military operations in southern Lebanon despite the partial arrangement.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group would support a full ceasefire across Lebanon as a step toward Israeli troop withdrawal.

The conflict began on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israeli communities and is now three months old. Lebanon’s embassy in Washington said the agreement would not end the wider conflict. Lebanon said it would seek to expand the partial ceasefire in talks with Israel in Washington on Wednesday.

Iranian state media reported on June 1 that Tehran was suspending indirect negotiations with the United States. Trump told an NBC reporter that he had not heard from Iran about the suspension. Esmaeil Qaani, head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, threatened to expand its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab El Mandeb Strait.

Iran has already restricted maritime traffic in the Gulf that before the war supplied one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

Oil edged higher in early trade on June 1.