United States officials are placing responsibility for the continued breakdown of the Israel–Lebanon ceasefire squarely on Hezbollah, even as diplomatic efforts struggle to hold the agreement together.
According to US State Department and White House-linked briefings, Washington maintains that Hezbollah has repeatedly violated the truce by carrying out attacks against Israel, triggering retaliatory responses from the Israeli military.
The situation has kept the fragile ceasefire under severe strain, with both sides accusing each other of escalation.
President Donald Trump, in an April 17 social media post, had earlier claimed that Israel would be restricted from launching future strikes into Lebanon. That announcement was widely interpreted as the opening phase of a broader US-mediated framework aimed at de-escalating the conflict and paving the way for wider negotiations with Iran.
However, US officials now say implementation of that plan has been undermined by continued hostilities.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio held separate discussions over the weekend with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The talks reportedly focused on sequencing a possible ceasefire arrangement in which Hezbollah would halt attacks on Israel, while Israel would refrain from further military escalation particularly around Beirut’s southern suburbs, a frequent flashpoint in the conflict.
But US officials speaking on background have pointed to internal Lebanese political resistance as a key obstacle.
Nabih Berri, speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, was described by one US source as giving an “evasive and disappointing” response to proposed diplomatic arrangements.
Washington has also reiterated its position that Israel cannot indefinitely absorb cross-border attacks from Hezbollah without responding militarily.
While public messaging from US officials has at times called for restraint from Israel, the current diplomatic stance increasingly frames Hezbollah—and by extension Iran, which is widely seen as its main backer as the central driver of the ongoing instability.
For now, efforts to stabilize the ceasefire remain stalled, with both military exchanges and diplomatic friction continuing to escalate across the region.
