Qassem rejects cease-fire agreement reached in Washington, slams it as a 'capitulation'

BEIRUT — Unsurprisingly, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Thursday rejected and harshly criticized the cease-fire agreement announced overnight from Washington, denouncing it as "a capitulation and a defeat" and demanding a "comprehensive" cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israelis from south Lebanon.

In a message read on the party's al-Manar channel to mark the anniversary of the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Qassem condemned direct negotiations with Israel as "absurd, humiliating and shameful for Lebanon." According to him, the text adopted the previous day in Washington, on the second day of a fourth round of talks, serves the "Greater Israel project."

'Existential threat'

"Making disarmament the main goal of any agreement amounts to annihilating Lebanon's strength and constitutes an existential threat aimed at eliminating its resistant people," said Qassem, as the agreement calls for the evacuation of all fighters from south of the Litani and the establishment of "pilot zones" under the control of the Lebanese Army.

In this respect, the agreement is "an announcement of Lebanon's destruction and incitement to discord among the Lebanese for the benefit of Israel," he said.

"Making the security aspect the main focus of the agreement," and forcing the evacuation of Hezbollah fighters "while the aggression continues and under military pressure" constitutes, in his view, a "capitulation and a defeat," and this will not be implemented.

He thus called for a "comprehensive" cease-fire throughout the country, warning against any distinction between "the south and the rest of Lebanon" and rejecting any "freedom given" to Israel "to kill." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier in the day that the army would retain its "freedom of action" in Lebanon and would respond "up to Beirut" to any Hezbollah attack on Israeli territory.

Internal divisions caused by Lebanese authorities

Qassem also said he had "not committed to anyone not to resist attacks or not to respond to them. As long as the aggression continues, we will face it by all means at our disposal and will strike where we decide and where we can." "

As long as our villages are not safe, as they are being bombed and destroyed and our people are being killed, Israeli settlements will not be safe," he threatened, as Israeli strikes did not let up Thursday. The Hezbollah leader also held Lebanese leaders "responsible" for causing "internal divisions, with their political choices that reflect neither the national consensus nor the principles of the Constitution and coexistence," and reiterated his call for an end to direct negotiations, which he called a "charade."

Qassem also thanked Iran for its support and "efforts to consolidate the end of hostilities, as part of the broader framework of ending hostilities against Iran." Tehran has repeatedly stated that no agreement would be reached with Washington to end their conflict without the end of the Israeli offensive against Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, President Joseph Aoun said he was "awaiting the responses" of the parties concerned by the cease-fire, foremost among them Hezbollah. He indicated that the truce "could be implemented within 24 hours of its final approval," calling it the "last chance" to end the conflict.

Soon after Qassem's message was published, a source within the movement told AFP that Lebanese authorities had been informed of the agreement's rejection.