Hezbollah leader rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon deal as 'humiliating, shameful' surrender, Israeli drone strikes south

The agreement, inked in Washington on 26 June, envisions a phased Israeli withdrawal from designated pilot zones and the deployment of the Lebanese army, but it ties Israel's full pull-out to Hezbollah’s disarmament and permits Israeli forces to remain in an expanded security zone for now. Hezbollah was not part of the negotiations.

Hezbollah's rejection

In a televised statement on 27 June, Hezbollah secretary-general Naim Qassem called the deal "null and void" and accused the Lebanese government of making unilateral concessions that undermined sovereignty.

The framework agreement in Washington is humiliating, shameful, and a surrender of sovereignty. This agreement is null and void.

He criticised provisions linking Israel's withdrawal to the group's disarmament as crossing "all red lines" and said that Hezbollah would not leave the field of battle. Protests erupted in Beirut on Friday evening, with supporters blocking roads to the airport and burning tyres.

Violence persists despite the signatures

Hours after the deal was signed, an Israeli drone struck Nabatieh al-Fawqa, a town outside Israel's self-declared security zone. The Israel Defense Forces told Reuters it targeted an individual who posed a threat, noting that no ground troops were in the area.

Lebanon's National News Agency also reported overnight bombing near Markaba, 1.5 km from the border. The strike underscored the fragility of a succession of ceasefires that have repeatedly broken down since the conflict reignited on 2 March.

What the framework agreement says

A four-point text, released by the US State Department on Saturday, states that Lebanon and Israel intend to formally end the state of war that has existed since 1948. It calls for Israel's eventual withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but only after Hezbollah disarms.

Initially, Israel will pull back from two unnamed "pilot zones" while the Lebanese army takes over security responsibilities there. A security annex detailing troop deployments remains classified.

The word withdrawal is not in the text.

Al Jazeera’s Beirut correspondent noted that the document instead opens a path towards normalisation, including direct communications and the drafting of a full peace and security agreement. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz later said forces had been ordered to "prepare for an extended stay in the security zone", an area up to 10 km inside Lebanon.

The human toll

Lebanon’s health ministry reports at least 4,192 people killed and more than 11,600 wounded since the start of hostilities, with over 1.2 million displaced. On the Israeli side, the military says 36 soldiers and four civilians have died on both sides of the border.

Parallel tracks and reactions

The Lebanon framework was negotiated separately from a US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed earlier this month, which Hezbollah and Iran say guaranteed Lebanon's territorial integrity. Qassem argued that memo, not Friday’s Washington text, should form the basis for ending the conflict.

Israeli officials signalled that military presence might extend well beyond disarmament. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich remarked: "We are there until Hezbollah disarms and I think also beyond that, because we need defendable borders."