The United States launched a joint initiative with a number of Western and Arab countries to call for a ceasefire between the Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel for 21 days in order to pave the way for reaching a political settlement. US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint statement published at dawn on Thursday, "We have worked together in recent days on a joint call for a temporary ceasefire to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and avoid further escalation across the border." Biden and Macron added, according to Al Jazeera, that "the statement we negotiated now has the support of the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar." The countries signing the joint statement said, "It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes safely." They added that "diplomacy cannot succeed amid an escalation o f this conflict, and therefore we call for an immediate ceasefire for 21 days across the Lebanese-Israeli border to pave the way for diplomacy to reach a settlement. Source: National Iraqi News Agency