Abir Sultan / EPA
Destruction after attack in Israel
The leader of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, Naim Qassem, rejected this Thursday the most recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, at a time when new fighting is hampering efforts to end the conflict.
In a televised statement, Naim Qassem called the negotiations “humiliating” e “insulting” to Lebanon, stating that they were rejected by broad sectors of the Lebanese population.
“What concerns us is the end of the aggression, the ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” he said, adding that Hezbollah has not made any commitment to cease fighting until the villages are safe.
According to , the agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached after a fourth round of negotiations mediated by the US, would imply the withdrawal of all Hezbollah members from an area located between the Israeli border and the Litani River, about 30 kilometers to the north, currently occupied by Israeli ground forces.
According to the understanding, the US would help implement “pilot areas” from which “non-state actors”, i.e. Hezbollah, would be excluded. However, the text does not include maps that indicate the location of these zones nor explain how they would work in practice.
The agreement follows a partial ceasefire announced on Monday, which Lebanon said would see Israel stop bombing the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in exchange for Hezbollah suspending attacks on Israel.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katzstated that the Israeli armed forces will continue, for now, attacks and operations on the ground with the aim of “dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the area”.
A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on April 16 failed to end the fighting. Last week, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli armed forces to intensify attacks against Hezbollah and advance deeper into Lebanon, in response to drone and rocket attacks on communities in northern Israel.
Representatives of the two countries will meet again June 22 to hold further talks with a view to reaching a more comprehensive agreement.
