Hezbollah rejects renewed ceasefire agreed by Israel and Lebanon

(BBC News) The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has emphatically rejected the terms of a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

In a strongly worded statement, the Iran-backed group’s leader Naim Qassem said negotiations had been “futile” and “humiliating” for Lebanon, and rejected categorically by “broad segments of the Lebanese people”.

It comes after Israel and Lebanon announced a renewal of their fragile ceasefire with the creation of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon in which Hezbollah operatives would be banned.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday by the US State Department, the three countries said the deal was “contingent on a complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah.

But responding on Thursday, the leader of Hezbollah – which was not part of the talks – said the “supposed ceasefire”, interpreted as Hezbollah halting fire and withdrawing fighters from the southern front with Israel, amounted to surrender and would fulfil Israel’s objectives.

The agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached after a fourth round of US-mediated talks in Washington, is contingent on the “evacuation of all [Hezbollah] operatives” from an area between the Israeli border and the Litani river, about 30 km (19 miles) to the north, which is currently occupied by Israeli ground forces.

According to the deal, the US would help guide 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”.

It did not include any maps to indicate where the pilot zones would be located, or any explanation of how they might work in practice.

The agreement followed a partial ceasefire announced on Monday, which Lebanon said would see Israel refrain from bombing the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in exchange for Hezbollah not attacking Israel.

The two countries’ representatives will meet again on June 22 to hold further talks “with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement”.

Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militia, political party and social movement, is Lebanon’s most powerful group.

With support from Iran, it has built an armed force more formidable than the Lebanese army and has fought a series of conflicts with Israel. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel and many other countries, including the UK and US.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the ceasefire “could be implemented within 24 hours of its final approval” by all concerned parties.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military would “for the time being, continue its fire and operations on the ground” in order to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area”.

Lebanese media reported multiple Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said five people were killed in air strikes on the Bekaa Valley town of Sohmor on Thursday, and that another person was killed when a motorcycle was targeted by an Israeli aircraft in the town of Maaroub, near the city of Tyre.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) meanwhile said one of its peacekeepers had died of wounds he sustained when mortar shells struck his position near Marjayoun late on Wednesday.

The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of firing the mortars that landed inside the UN position overnight, killing the personnel member. The group has not yet commented on the incident.

Serbia’s defence ministry identified the peacekeeper as Senior Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic, one of around 170 Serbians in the 7,500-strong UN force.

The Israeli military also said it had identified impacts of several “suspicious aerial targets” in an area of southern Lebanon where Israeli troops were operating on Thursday afternoon. No injuries were reported, it added.

Hezbollah said earlier that it had targeted Israeli troops and military vehicles in the Lebanese town of Qantara and the area of Beaufort Castle with attack drones and rockets on Thursday.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c052343r812o