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Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on June 4 that his group will keep attacking Israel as long as strikes continue in Lebanon, in comments that appear to reject a new ceasefire deal reached after mediation by the United States.
Just a day earlier, Lebanon and Israel agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and establish “pilot zones,” placing the Lebanese military in exclusive territorial control, with all non-state actors excluded.
The deal was announced in a joint statement released following a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks held at the State Department.
In a written statement read on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, Qassem said that the agreement’s demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals.”
As long as Lebanese towns are being bombed and people are being killed, northern Israel will not be safe, the Lebanese leader warned.
“What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” Qassem added. “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation.”
Qassem also called on the Lebanese government to quit direct talks with Israel, describing the U.S.-mediated efforts as a “farce.”
Earlier, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun warned that the deal reached in Washington is the “last chance” to reach a comprehensive truce.
“The results of the fourth round of negotiations, and the statement issued from it, which included very important points in Lebanon’s favor, represent the last chance to enter into a final, comprehensive ceasefire. Each party bears responsibility” if it fails to respond positively, Aoun said, according to a statement from his office.
Aoun added Lebanon will inform the U.S. of its position “as soon as responses are received from the concerned internal parties, particularly Hezbollah.”
He noted that Washington would determine the ceasefire’s start date and “President Donald Trump will be the direct guarantor of its implementation.”
Meanwhile, Hebrew media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a security cabinet meeting to discuss the deal.
A day earlier, Netanyahu said that he and Trump are aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon.
Hezbollah “is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians,” Netanyahu told CNBC in an interview.
“And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah and we have to demilitarize Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that’s what we have to do,” he added.
The Israeli military has expanded its ground control in southern Lebanon over the past week, advancing north of the Litani River. However, since the fighting began more than a month ago against the backdrop of the war with Iran, the military has failed to significantly degrade the group’s capabilities.
Recent drone attacks by the group inflicted some serious losses on the Israeli military, restoring power balance, at least to some extend.
Qassem’s latest remarks shows that Hezbollah is growing confident with its capabilities, as well as with its alliance with Iran, which warned Israel against any major escalation in Lebanon. Based on this, the U.S.-brokered deal, which is very much meant to end the group, will likely fail, quickly.
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ceasefire. the most misused word in hasbara media. has israel completely withdrawn from lebanon? i think not
cease fires are only a way for the jews to continue the genocide and occupation without getting hit back. they are pointless if these raface demons dont withdrawl from lebanon. fk the jews fk israel. its time they for once get properly punished for all their crimes against humanity.
bibi is saving lebanon by killing more than 120 doctors and nurses. disgusting. aoun = us puppet.
its time.bibi is exterminated along with the rest of his cabinet fk israel fk the jews.
so the jooz and their amerikunt joo whores and their lebaneses joo whores have had a nice little pow wow between themselves and drawn up a wish list of what they want. this is what they always do, announce what they have decided, and expect everyone else to just accept it. it’s the epitome of hubris and arrogance. like when the eu muppets negotiate with each other and announce that russia has to surrender and put putin on trial.
eu muppets need to get their heads cut off by guiotine fk them all these shabbosgoy jew helpers created the war in ukraine in syria and all these wars in the middle east. they will all get their punishment the very moment the cops and army are distracted. the people will hang them high they deserve to be exterminated along with their helpers!
disarm all of lebanon???.. i’ve never heard anything so dumbass. as if those bloodsucking degenerates from israel will leave you alone. all this is doing is making it easy for the scum state to wipeout all of lebanon and the dumb bast’d lebanese govt seems happy to go along with it.
all comments ~33/34 positive… which zionist agency is playing with feedback again?
the current absence of the filth comments does not hide who is doing it though.
hezbollah are perfectly justified in refusing a ‘cease fire’ with the isreali apartheid regime. the apartheid regime wants their land and wants them gone, by hook or by crook, or by playing the victim card which this religious cult has been doing since wwii, and before if ones knows their history. the isreali apartheid regime are between a rock and and hard place. their fate rests on america..
nutsack and the orange blob feign animosity, in reality they are peas in a pod and liars both. war is what they want and war they will get. aoun has turned traitor to lebanon, hez are the only patriots in lebanon. salam is an enemy agent too. both would turn lebanon into syria, both need a lampost. who in their right mind wants anything the blob ‘guarantees’? his guarantees are prelude to attacks. all want a civl war. not peace.