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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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