Hezbollah: Lebanese state 'primarily responsible' for continued Israeli attacks

Hezbollah issued a sharply worded statement Sunday against the Lebanese state, which the Iran-backed group said bears the "primary responsibility for the continuation of repeated Israeli crimes," as the Israeli army continues demolition operations in southern Lebanon, where it occupies more than 600 square kilometers, despite a cease-fire that took effect in mid-June between Hezbollah and Israel.

The framework agreement signed at the end of June between Lebanon and Israel, which links the Israeli army's "gradual" withdrawal from southern Lebanon to the disarmament of the group, was again criticized by Hezbollah.

"By signing the framework agreement, the Lebanese authorities have granted the [Israeli] enemy legitimacy for its occupation and actions," Hezbollah said.

"They continue to ignore everything that is happening, without the slightest reaction, as if the echo of these deafening explosions does not reach them. They do not say a word," the group added.

President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's government have regularly denounced what they describe as Israeli violations of the cease-fire.

"The Lebanese people have not seen any initiative from them that would meet their national and sovereign duty to exert political and diplomatic pressure in international forums," Hezbollah said.

It continued: "Pursuing its criminal, aggressive, and expansionist project, the Israeli enemy continues — right in front of the Lebanese authorities and the entire world — to sow terror and commit crimes against southern Lebanon, destroying villages, burning houses, flattening roads and fields, blowing up schools and hospitals, terrorizing defenseless civilians, and erasing all means of subsistence in the resilient South."

The group said it viewed the campaign as "a desperate attempt to prevent its worthy and honorable inhabitants from returning to their villages, homes, and lands."

"The primary responsibility for the continuation of these repeated crimes lies with the Lebanese authorities, who are silent, absent, or even complicit," the statement said.

'Legitimate right to defend their land'

Two days before a new round of talks between Lebanon and Israel was set to open in Rome, Hezbollah said that "if the authorities are unable to fulfill their duty, at the very least they should not prevent the residents of the South from exercising their legitimate right to defend themselves and their land."

The statement made no explicit mention of a possible resumption of attacks against the Israeli army.

Hezbollah concluded by calling on the state "to assume its national and constitutional responsibilities and to act immediately at all political and diplomatic levels to put an end to the destruction committed by the enemy." It also called on "the international community, in all its institutions, to force the enemy to end its aggression and withdraw from all occupied Lebanese territories."

Earlier in the week, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, speaking from southern Lebanon, threatened to expand operations to other areas, saying Israeli forces would not withdraw from captured positions before securing what he described as "lasting security" for residents of northern Israel.

Hezbollah subsequently placed its forces on alert, fearing a new military escalation.

Politically, the statement came as Parliament Speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri's visit to the Baabda Presidential Palace this week was seen by observers as providing political cover for the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.