WASHINGTON: Lebanese Finance Minister ​Yassine Jaber on ⁠Thursday said his government had good meetings this ‌week with the International Monetary Fund and remained committed to ​working toward a lending program.

Current events, including massive strikes by ​Israel on Lebanon, had ​delayed the process, Jaber told Reuters on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank ⁠spring meetings in Washington, but he added that officials were committed to moving forward on steps needed to secure a program.

"Our aim as a government is ​to reach ‌an agreement ⁠with the IMF ⁠on a program," Jaber said. "We will start with an SLA (staff-level ​agreement) and then progress to ‌a program."

He said the war ⁠is estimated to have caused $7 billion in damages. It was unclear how much further damage had been inflicted, but it was huge, Jaber added.

Jaber said Lebanon was working with the World Bank to provide a rapid damage assessment, but added that the attacks had to stop first. Israeli forces destroyed a ‌major bridge on Thursday and last week's strikes ⁠on Beirut came with no warning.

The ​sides agreed to a 10-day ceasefire earlier on Thursday aimed at halting a conflict between Israel and the ​Iran-aligned Lebanese ‌group Hezbollah that was reignited by the ⁠U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. (Reporting ​by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul Simao)