MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Today was supposed to be a lot of things. The vice president, JD Vance, was supposed to be in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was supposed to be there to kick off a 60-day negotiation period between the U.S. and Iran - 60 days with the goal of bringing a final end to the U.S. war with Iran. Those things did not happen.
What did happen? - more fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. That fighting led to the negotiations in Switzerland being postponed. And while things seem to have quieted for now, Israel has promised to attack again if they feel provoked. Well, just a few hours into the ceasefire, we want to check on Lebanon to see if this delicate agreement is actually holding. So we have reached Mohamad El Chamaa, a Beirut-based reporter for the Washington Post. Mohamad, welcome.
MOHAMAD EL CHAMAA: Hi there.
KELLY: Hi. So let's start with a quick status check. This ceasefire in Lebanon was supposed to start at around 4 p.m. your time. I know it's now late into the night there. Is it quiet? Like, what can you see and hear?
EL CHAMAA: So Beirut's pretty much really quiet. There's no sound of drones overhead. And the rest of the country is also pretty quiet, although there is, like, an air of caution prevailing, more like a wait-and-see.
KELLY: But that is in stark contrast, it sounds like, to earlier today. I mean, the sequence of events, as I understand them today, is that Israel was striking Hezbollah targets across Southern and Eastern Lebanon, striking them hard. And then as the day unfolded, they agreed to a renewed ceasefire. Why?
EL CHAMAA: So overnight, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, attacked Israeli troops in Lebanon and killed four Israeli soldiers. And Israel responded with a - like, a massive bombardment in South Lebanon and East Lebanon. That led to more than 40 deaths. And then it really felt like, you know, the ceasefire would collapse, and we'd be back into war.
But miraculously, a ceasefire negotiated by the U.S. - and we're told it was negotiated by the U.S., Iran and Qatar - sort of took place, and that kind of calmed things down, but it really felt like things would get out of control. But in the meantime, that - I'm told that that sort of led the Iranians to postpone the talks in Switzerland today.
KELLY: Yeah. I mean, so you're giving us a few new pieces of information there, one that Qatar was involved in helping broker this Lebanon ceasefire, that the U.S. was involved and Iran. I guess bigger picture, how closely linked are this renewed ceasefire in Lebanon? And this ceasefire - the U.S.-Iran ceasefire that's just been renewed that they're hoping to build on to try to end the Iran war?
EL CHAMAA: So the U.S. really wants the Lebanon ceasefire to work, mainly because a lot of - there's a lot that hinges on it, specifically the talks with Iran, which - you know, if that goes south, then we'd be back into, you know, a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and all that and all the...
KELLY: Yeah.
EL CHAMAA: ...Work that went in place to reach, like, the big MOU - that would be squandered. So they really want this to work. And this is kind of different from, like, the last ceasefire that Lebanon and Israel agreed to. They didn't really have buy-in from Iran. This time, they do.
And this time, the U.S. is kind of making sure that Israel sticks by the ceasefire. I mean, today, a lot of Israeli cabinet ministers - they really wanted, like, a heavy bombardment. And it really looked like we were headed in that direction, but it appears that the U.S. is keeping things quiet here.
KELLY: When you say the U.S. is keeping things quiet, the U.S. is putting pressure on Israel to adhere to a Lebanon ceasefire, do we know how? Like, what is the U.S. actually saying, and what may be happening behind the scenes?
EL CHAMAA: So I don't have much information on that yet, but I do know that the Iranians want to preserve - they want to make sure that Lebanon isn't attacked 'cause they do have a lot of supporters in Lebanon. And in the last war, Iran kind of didn't do much to prevent - in the 2024 War, they kind of didn't do much to prevent that war from unfolding. So there was a lot of criticism in Lebanon against Iran. This time, they kind of want to, like, show that, hey, we're here, and we kind of support our Hezbollah partisans and stuff.
KELLY: We have less than a minute left, but big picture, how solid does this Lebanon ceasefire feel?
EL CHAMAA: I'm hopeful. I mean, initially - so it did go into effect at around 4 local time. There were some reported strikes here and there, but it seems to be holding so far. I feel like because Iran is on board and because the U.S. is willing to kind of hold back Israel, that I do feel like this might work out, but again, we'll have to wait and see.
KELLY: Well, I'm wishing you a quiet night and thanking you for your time staying up to talk to us. Thank you.
EL CHAMAA: Thank you so much, Mary Louise.
KELLY: That is Mohamad El Chamaa of the Washington Post speaking with us from Beirut. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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