Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese group would respect a ceasefire with Israel announced earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump if Israeli attacks on the militants stopped.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a ceasefire Thursday, and said he was trying to set up the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

President Joseph Aoun held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday during which he thanked the U.S. leader for his "efforts" to secure a ceasefire with Israel, the Lebanese Presidency said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a "grave error", urging authorities to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri has made no secret of his "displeasure and resentment" at President Joseph Aoun and PM Nawaf Salam's decision to engage in direct negotiations with Israel, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Israeli army is preparing for a ceasefire in Lebanon expected to begin at 7:00 P.M. local time, Israel's Haaretz newspaper quoted Israeli army officials as saying.

Visiting British Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer on Thursday called for a ceasefire in Lebanon where Israel and Hezbollah are at war, and welcomed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of its backer Iran. Israel has responded with huge strikes and a ground invasion in the country's south.

Ambassador of the United States to Lebanon Michel Issa has met with President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio, the U.S. Embassy said on the X platform.

The meeting took place Wednesday, a day after Lebanon and Israel held a high-level face-to-face meeting in Washington -- the first such negotiation since 1993.

Iran's prominent speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart on Thursday that a ceasefire in Lebanon was "as important" as in Iran, according to a statement posted on Telegram.

In talks to end the war between Iran and the United States, Ghalibaf said Tehran has "been striving to compel our enemies to establish a permanent ceasefire in all the conflict zones, in accordance with the agreement. For us, a ceasefire in Lebanon is just as important as a ceasefire in Iran," he said, in a phone conversation with Nabih Berri.

President Joseph Aoun on Thursday stressed the importance of a ceasefire before any direct negotiations with Israel, ahead of possible talks with Israel's leader that Beirut has not confirmed will take place.

"The ceasefire requested by Lebanon with Israel is the natural starting point for direct negotiations between the two countries," Aoun said in a statement.