The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem. Photo taken from the Al Manar website, a media outlet affiliated with Hezbollah.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Saturday described as a ‘’grave mistake’’ the agreement signed the previous day by Lebanon and Israel under U.S. auspices at the conclusion of the fifth round of negotiations in Washington, declaring it ‘’null and void.’’
’’The Washington framework agreement is humiliating, shameful and represents an abandonment of sovereignty,’’ Sheikh Qassem said in a statement, accusing the Lebanese government of thereby ‘’legitimizing’’ the Israeli occupation of national territory for ‘’many years’’ and warning that it could ‘’even lead to the annexation of these areas by the Zionist entity.’’
’’This agreement is null and void, and it is the provisions of the Iran-U.S. memorandum that must be applied,’’ the leader of the movement added, referring to the agreement signed on June 17 by Washington and Tehran to end the war in the Middle East, including in Lebanon.
’You stabbed the resistance in the back’
The Hezbollah leader then criticized the authorities, questioning ‘’their sense of responsibility toward their people and their duty to protect Lebanon's sovereignty.’’
’’We told the authorities that direct negotiations were nothing but free concessions to Israel. You stabbed the resistance in the back from the very beginning, with the disastrous decision taken by the government on March 2, serving the Israeli aggression project,’’ he said, referring to the Lebanese state's decision to declare Hezbollah's weapons ‘’illegal’’ following the group's entry into the regional war.
Continuing his criticism, Sheikh Qassem argued that the agreement ‘’deprives the Lebanese of their right to return to their lands,’’ asserting that « [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu authorizes the deployment of the Lebanese Army in two pilot areas, while the enemy monitors its deployment and the disarmament process. »
He also rejected the link established between Israeli withdrawal and the disarmament of the ‘’resistance throughout Lebanese territory,’’ a proposal he described as ‘’extremely dangerous, crossing every red line and turning Lebanon into a plaything in the hands of the Israeli enemy.’’
The text of the Lebanon-Israel framework agreement does not specify the crucial issue of Israeli withdrawal, its timetable or conditions, but conditions the withdrawal on developments in the security situation and the elimination of any threat to Israel, directly linking it to Hezbollah's disarmament.
‘We are ready to cooperate’
Reaffirming the party's determination to continue its activities, Naim Qassem said his party would not leave ‘’the field,’’ stressing that ‘’the cease-fire would not have taken place without the great sacrifices of the resistance fighters, their families and the Lebanese people.’’
’’We will remain faithful to the memory of the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners, as well as to the sacrifices of the people of this land, and we will continue, as the resistance, to maintain a presence on the ground to repel the occupation,’’ he said.
Addressing the Lebanese authorities once again, he urged them to ‘’reverse their mistakes that are destroying the country,’’ adding that ‘’such a reversal would be to their credit after the errors they have committed.’’
’’We are ready to cooperate,’’ he added.
The secretary-general finally pledged that Hezbollah would continue ‘’by all necessary means’’ its efforts to force Israel to ‘’respect the first point of the memorandum of understanding and withdraw from Lebanon.’’
