Updated April 9, 2026 – 6:58 p.mReading time: 5 minutes
As soon as the ceasefire with Iran is in place, it threatens to fail again. The focus is on Lebanon – and Netanyahu’s attempt to force a war success there.
The fragile ceasefire between the USA, Israel and Iran threatens to collapse again just a few hours after it comes into force. The reason lies in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued unabated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently pushing ahead with the war there in order to save face domestically. As things stand, he has not achieved any of his central goals in the war against Iran. It remains to be seen whether direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, which are now set to begin, could actually lead to an end to the attacks.
In the struggle for a ceasefire, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif acted as a mediator between the warring parties. He also announced the “immediate ceasefire”, which, according to this statement, should also apply to the war in Lebanon with immediate effect. However, Netanyahu and his cabinet were apparently not involved in these talks.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu was only informed about the ceasefire and its conditions shortly before it was announced. According to the report, there was great resentment on the Israeli side – especially that Lebanon was also said to have been part of the deal.
The Trump administration has since distanced itself from the claim that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire. However, Iran and Pakistan continue to insist. At the same time, rhetoric is intensifying again on both the American and Iranian sides. Whether the war flares up again currently seems to increasingly depend on the question of what should apply to Lebanon.
In Israel, too, criticism of the Netanyahu government and concern about what has actually been achieved in the recent wars are growing. Opposition leader and former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid wrote on Platform X on Wednesday: “Netanyahu has failed politically and strategically, he has not achieved any of the goals he set for himself.” Referring to how Israel was left out of the ceasefire talks, Lapid spoke of the “biggest political catastrophe” in Israel’s history, the consequences of which would take years to resolve.
