Julian Borger

And we're in that vacuum in the absence of a peace deal.

This long running Israel-Hazbollah war in Lebanon has stepped up.

It continues to burn away in the sort of in the undergrowth and it flared up over the weekend.

Hezbollah inflicted some casualties on Israeli IDF.

Israel hit back by hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut, Dahir.

Now, that was supposed to be out of bounds under this loose agreement between US and Israel and Iran.

And Iran has said, you come anywhere near Beirut, we will strike back.

And so when

Israel did that.

Then Iran, to sort of save face, having guaranteed Hezbollah that they would protect them in Beirut, launched a salvo of missiles, the first since the ceasefire.

They were all intercepted, but Israel was not going to hold back without a response.

Trump tried to get Netanyahu not to retaliate.

That's not really acceptable inside Israeli politics, not to strike back.

And so Netanyahu struck back.

Well, they've got two different constituencies.

Trump, once again, prices under control.

He wants to stop a market to do well.

And in particular, he would like some peace while the World Cup is on.

It's a big thing for him, a prestige project.

And he has said there is going to be a ceasefire.