BEIRUT
Despite a US-mediated ceasefire agreement announced by Israel and Lebanon, hostilities raged on Thursday as Hezbollah rejected the deal and Israel vowed to maintain its military presence in southern Lebanon, undermining US President Donald Trump’s efforts to halt fighting on two fronts.
The ceasefire, announced on Wednesday following negotiations in Washington, is contingent on Hezbollah ceasing fire and evacuating its fighters from southern Lebanon. However, Hezbollah is not a party to the talks and swiftly denounced the framework.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the Washington framework a “final opportunity to secure a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire”. Aoun said the truce could come into force within a day if all parties approved.
The joint statement released with the US said Lebanon and Israel agreed to “swiftly advance the creation of pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.
But Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the conditional truce, calling the direct talks a “farce and humiliation”. He demanded a comprehensive ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, threatening northern Israel with new attacks.
“The ceasefire must be comprehensive … without the Israeli enemy having the freedom to kill,” Qassem said on Thursday. He described the Washington declaration as “a roadmap for the annihilation of a section of the Lebanese people and the enslavement of the rest”.
“As long as the occupation exists, the resistance will continue,” Qassem added. “As long as our villages are unsafe — being bombed, destroyed, and our people killed — the settlements are unsafe.”
The war, which reignited on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran amid US-Israeli attacks on Iran, has become a sticking point in resolving the broader conflict.
Tehran has demanded an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as a condition for any peace deal with Washington.
Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, insisted on Thursday that Israel must retreat behind international borders.
“Supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of all of us,” Qaani posted on social media. “The minimum demand of the resistance is the withdrawal of the usurping regime to the position it held before the start of the 40-day war.”
Israel, which invaded southern Lebanon in March, showed no intention of pulling back. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz affirmed on Thursday that forces would not withdraw from the area.
