Summary
- Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Saturday dismissed a U.S.-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel, calling it “null and void” and a surrender to Israel.
- However, Israeli forces would remain in an expanded security zone until further implementation.
- He vowed Hezbollah would continue armed resistance: “We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it.” Lebanon’s state news agency reported that an Israeli drone struck Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Saturday, outside the designated security zone.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Saturday dismissed a U.S.-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel, calling it “null and void” and a surrender to Israel.
The deal, signed Friday, outlines a phased Israeli withdrawal from parts of southern Lebanon, with Lebanese army deployment in those areas. However, Israeli forces would remain in an expanded security zone until further implementation. Qassem condemned provisions linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament, saying they legitimised Israel’s military presence and undermined Lebanon’s sovereignty.
He vowed Hezbollah would continue armed resistance: “We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it.”
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that an Israeli drone struck Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Saturday, outside the designated security zone. The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying it targeted an individual posing a threat to its forces.
Qassem argued that the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding signed earlier this month — which guarantees Lebanon’s territorial integrity — should serve as the basis for ending the conflict, not the Washington agreement.
The rejection underscores the fragility of ceasefire efforts, as more than a million Lebanese remain displaced by the ongoing conflict that runs parallel to the wider Iran war.
