Lebanon ceasefire is part of plan to keep Trump on side

Benjamin Netanyahu knows the incoming president won't be happy if the Gaza war drags on, writes Chris Stevenson, so he is turning his attention to Iran to buy himself some time

- Chris Stevenson

With Joe Biden set to leave the White House in less than 60 days, he seems determined to try to make a difference in the Middle East before Donald Trump takes office in January.

Of the major conflicts in the region, including those in Gaza and Lebanon as well as Israel’s broader clash with Iran, it is Lebanon that proved the easiest in which to achieve a ceasefire, if such a term can ever be applied in the presence of such overlapping and entrenched feuds. Biden’s push for peace in Lebanon has lined up with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s need to show both his domestic audience and Trump that he can halt a conflict once he has got involved in one.

For Trump is now the focus of Netanyahu’s gaze, with the president-elect making the debatable claim that there were “no wars” during his first term in the White House a key part of his election pitch. Trump made repeated boasts that he would end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine within 24 hours of his inauguration, while also saying that he wants the conflict in Gaza to be over.