It rejected the cease-fire plan agreed by its and Israel’s governments in talks under the auspices of , while it continued today the attacks in southern Lebanon and declared that it will not withdraw from the south.
Israel and Lebanon agreed yesterday to implement a ceasefire, which is dependent on a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah. The cease-fire agreement also depends on “the evacuation” of the zone south of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers north of the border with Israel, of Hezbollah members. Hezbollah did not participate in these talks.
The negotiations are humiliating
Reacting to the announced agreement, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement, Naim Qassem, said the negotiations were shameless, rejecting Washington’s declaration as “a road map to exterminate a part of the Lebanese people and enslave the rest”.
He called the Israel-Lebanon agreement “a capitulation and a defeat,” calling on the Lebanese government to “stop the travesty and humiliation of negotiations” with Israel. “As long as there is an occupation, the resistance will continue,” Kassem said in a written statement.
He stressed that a truce must include southern Lebanon, where Israel has occupied a self-declared safe zone, which he says is aimed at protecting northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks.
The head of the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement added that the cities in northern Israel will not be safe “as long as our villages are not safe, they are bombed, destroyed and our people are killed.”
Iran wants Israel to back down
The commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – which founded Hezbollah in 1982 – said “the minimum demand of the resistance” is for Israel to withdraw from the positions it held before the start of the war and the invasion of southern Lebanon by Israeli forces.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier today that Israel will continue its ground operations in southern Lebanon for the time being and Lebanese residents, who have been forced by Israel to leave their homes, will not be able to return.
For his part, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said earlier that the agreement in Washington is “the last chance to reach a comprehensive and final truce” with Israel.
