Lebanon is seeking urgent clarity on whether it's part of the ceasefire pausing the Iran war, its economy minister told CNBC, adding it was getting "mixed signals."
Israel, which has been striking Iranian-allied Hezbollah targets within Lebanon, has said the two-week truce does not apply to the country and on Wednesday issued an evacuation order for the southern city of Tyre ahead of potential strikes.
"We're getting mixed signals, or mixed reports," Amer Bisat, Lebanese economy minister, told CNBC on Wednesday.
"Some are suggesting that Lebanon is part of a ceasefire, others, including from Israel, are suggesting that it's not. This is something we need to be confirming over the next few hours. Obviously, our hope, our demand, has always been to end hostilities," he told CNBC's Dan Murphy.
Lebanon's status in the ceasefire seems uncertain after the deal was announced late on Tuesday.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped to broker the agreement, announced on social media platform X overnight that the U.S., Iran and their regional allies "have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon and elsewhere."
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office contradicted that statement, with a post on X earlier Wednesday claiming "the two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon."
'Devastating' setback
Lebanon and its capital Beirut have been the target of Israeli-led attacks against Iranian proxy Hezbollah over the last five weeks. Israeli ground forces have invaded the south of the country as part of a parallel campaign against Tehran.
Hezbollah reportedly halted fire against northern Israel and Israeli troops in Lebanon early on Wednesday. The group is expected to issue a formal statement on the ceasefire in due course, according to Reuters. French President Emmanuel Macron joined calls for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire deal.
The United Nations says over 1.1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon attempting to flee Israeli attacks, which have killed over 1,200 people in the country.
Minister Bisat told CNBC that Beirut felt like it was "forced into this war by parties that are outside of its control" and that while "the end of this war is obviously extremely positive ... the hope is that at some point soon, Lebanon will be part of it."
The economy minister said the conflict had been a "huge setback" for Lebanon and its already-struggling economy, with his country paying a "devastating price for this war."
"In 2025, we started seeing a bit of a recovery, a bit of a resuscitation after years of a crisis. But then this was a huge setback. The setback was on both levels. At the humanitarian level, with 1.2 million displaced in a country of five million people ... but also an economic hit the GDP of the country has taken," Bisat said, estimating that five weeks of war have cost Lebanon "around 5-7% of GDP in that very short period of time."
"All the recovery that we saw last year has disappeared in less than a month," he added.
Stable deal?
Global markets were on a tear following news of the deal, which came after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to obliterate Iran unless it reopened the Strait of Hormuz oil passage. Oil prices also fell below $100 a barrel in welcome relief for consumers and businesses worldwide.
Questions remain over whether the ceasefire can hold, however, with Israel and several Gulf countries already reporting incoming missiles and drones on Wednesday.
For its part, Iran's foreign minister said in a statement posted on X early Wednesday that "if attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations."
Tehran added that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz "will be possible through coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations," signaling there could be some caveats to the deal.
