Washington says a Lebanon ceasefire is ‘close’, in ‘optimistic’ update

Published

1 year ago

September 26, 2024

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Senior US officials have said overnight they expect a ceasefire deal to be implemented “in the coming hours” along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Speaking to reporters in a late-night, last-minute phone briefing, the US administration officials said that exhaustive behind-the-scenes diplomacy had brought an agreement between the two sides close.

One administration official said: “The ceasefire will be for 21 days along the blue line. During those 21 days, the parties will negotiate towards a potential resolution of the conflict that has been ongoing since Hezbollah launched the attack on 8 October, and to reach a comprehensive agreement along the blue line that allows for residents to return to their home in both Lebanon and Israel.”

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The official emphasised that this ceasefire proposal was for the northern border only and did not extend to Gaza where Israel’s military offensive against Hamas continues but that a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah would create the “space” for progress in Gaza.

“It buys some time and space to try to pursue an arrangement in Gaza along the lines of the hostage deal we’ve been discussing,” the US official said.

“We believe, regardless of what has happened on the battlefield over the last several days, the moment we feel is now to achieve that diplomatic resolution; to get there.”

The optimistic suggestion of a ceasefire “in the coming hours” follows a joint statement released by the US, UK, Australia, Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar which called for the immediate 21-day ceasefire.

“It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety,” the statement said, as it warned that “diplomacy, however, cannot succeed amid an escalation of this conflict.”

It’s not clear whether Israel or Hezbollah will agree to the ceasefire. Israel has stated its determination to remove the threat from southern Lebanon.

Asked about this, the US administration official said: “We have had this conversation with the parties… they’re familiar with the texts and we’ll let them speak to their actions. We’re expecting the deal in the coming hours.”

Hezbollah, which is a non-state group aligned with Iran, has been firing into Israel from Lebanon since 8 October in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s efforts to degrade Hezbollah with assassinations and last week’s pager and walkie-talkie attacks pushed the conflict to a new level with all-out regional war a step closer.

Even if the Israeli government can be persuaded to pause its military objectives, there is no guarantee Hezbollah would do the same. The group’s leader Hasan Nasrallah has pledged that attacks would continue until Israel stops attacking Gaza.

The US and other diplomats have been negotiating with the official Lebanese government and not directly with Hezbollah which they consider to be a terrorist group.

“We negotiate with the sovereign state of Lebanon. They are responsible in speaking for the state of Lebanon and for everything that happens on that side of the border,” the US administration official said.

Analysis: A real chance for peace – or just the same old song?

There is an element of deja-vu about this.

We’ve been here many times before, albeit with the other end of this conflict – Gaza.

American officials and the president himself have, so many times, said ceasefires and pauses are close, only to be let down by one side or the other.

This is a different situation for sure.

There are no hostages involved in the Israel-Hezbollah end of this conflict and Israel may feel that it’s had such spectacular success in degrading Hezbollah – with the assassinations and exploding pagers, that it’s militarily and diplomatically smart to pause now.

Will Hezbollah think the same? Or their masters in Iran? Maybe they will have no choice. They have taken an unprecedented beating over the past two weeks – at significant cost to civilians.

If there is a ceasefire along the Lebanon-Israel in the coming hours, as the Americans suggest, then it certainly does provide the space to get back to solving the Gaza nightmare.

It would also give the United Nations, in its biggest week of the year – the General Assembly, a sense of purpose and relevance; diplomacy works.

Israeli PM Netanyahu is speaking in the UN chamber later on Thursday. We’ll see how he reacts to the ceasefire calls and how he frames the conflict all as he addresses a body he rails against as ineffective and anti-Israeli.

“Who they negotiate with and deal with, as far as the non-state actors in Lebanon, I think they’re aware of the responsibility that they have to speak on behalf of the country or the state.

“So our expectation is when the government of Lebanon or when the government of Israel both accept this, this will carry and be implemented as a ceasefire on both sides.”

The potential breakthrough came at the end of a day when confused reports from Israel suggested Israeli ground troops might be preparing an invasion of southern Lebanon.

A US Department of Defence spokesperson later said the Pentagon had seen no suggestion of an imminent Israeli operation.

US

Trump says he will cancel all Biden executive orders ‘signed with autopen’

Published

22 hours ago

November 29, 2025

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Trump says he will cancel all Biden executive orders 'signed with autopen'

Donald Trump has said he will cancel all executive orders that he claims were signed with an autopen by his predecessor Joe Biden.

The US president alleged Mr Biden was “not involved” in signing the orders and claimed “the radical left lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the presidency away from him”. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

An autopen is a device which reproduces a person’s signature, allowing them to repeatedly sign documents without having to do so by hand each time.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.

“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.”

He added: “I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.

“Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed Mr Biden was not mentally capable by the end of his term and his staff made decisions on his behalf, using an autopen to sign them off without his knowledge.

Mr Trump has not provided any evidence for his claims, while Mr Biden and his former aides have denied they made decisions on his behalf.

In June, Mr Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.

“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

Mr Trump has also used an autopen, but claimed he only used it “for very unimportant papers”.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump replaced a portrait of Mr Biden in the Oval Office with a picture of an autopen signing the former president’s name.

US

Suspect in US National Guard shooting now facing first-degree murder charge

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2025

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Suspect in US National Guard shooting now facing first-degree murder charge

The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC is facing a first-degree murder charge.

It follows the death of one of the soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom.

The other soldier, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was taken to hospital in critical condition after the incident on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, West Virginia’s governor said Wolfe remained in a “very critical condition”.

US attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, now faces charges including one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.

Pirro said there are “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge and that Lakanwal had driven across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a revolver.

She said her heart went out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington DC by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree”.

President Donald Trump called Beckstrom, part of the West Virginia guard, a “highly respected” and “magnificent person”.

Investigators are continuing to execute warrants in the state of Washington, where the suspect lived, and other parts of the country, Pirro said.

However, she declined to discuss the suspect’s motive, saying officials have been working around the clock on that question.

Officials said Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

People who knew him say he served in a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before immigrating to the US.

Kristina Widman, who claims to be Lakanwal’s former landlord, said he had been living in Bellingham, close to Seattle, with his wife and five children.

The #AfghanEvac charity said Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration.

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration.

The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a statement that the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible”.

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The President has since said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the US by revoking their legal status.

Organisations that work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face a backlash after the shooting.

US

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2025

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US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

The US will review green cards issued to the citizens of 19 countries after two members of the National Guard were shot by a suspected Afghan gunman in Washington DC.

Immigration from Afghanistan has also been suspended indefinitely, the White House said, following the double shooting on Wednesday.

Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), revealed the order from President Trump.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

Asked which countries would be affected, USCIS pointed to a presidential proclamation from June listing 19 countries.

The proclamation sought to “fully restrict” arrivals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

It also “partially” restricted arrivals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the suspected gunman in this week’s shooting and has been detained.

He worked as part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, and reportedly came to the States under a programme meant to help Afghans who’d risked their lives assisting US troops in Afghanistan.

He’s thought to have driven thousands of miles to the capital from his home in Washington state, where he lives with his wife and five children.

Attorney general Pam Bondi called him “a lone gunman” who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style”.

President Trump described him as a “savage monster”.

He was granted asylum in April this year, according to NBC News.

One of his victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her wounds, while the other, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in a critical condition.

Lakanwal reportedly came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome, a programme enacted by former President Joe Biden after he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Edlow explictly targeted the previous president as he announced the new green card regime.

He wrote on X: “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”

Speaking after the attack, President Trump was even more caustic.

He said: “The suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.

“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.

“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden – a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”

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He continued: “This attack underscores the greatest national security threat facing our nation.

“The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t even want to know about.

“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”