Hezbollah rejects US-brokered ceasefire, calls negotiations a 'masquerade' as Israeli strikes continue in southern Lebanon

A deal announced, then rejected

The ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday in Washington, brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon, was rejected outright by Hezbollah within 24 hours. The deal conditioned a halt to hostilities on a complete stop to Hezbollah rocket fire and the evacuation of the group's fighters from the area south of the Litani River, which Israeli forces have crossed during their offensive, capturing the Beaufort Castle. In a televised address on Thursday, Hezbollah leader Naïm Qassem denounced the terms.

The announced agreement is a roadmap aimed at annihilating a part of the Lebanese people and enslaving the rest.

'A capitulation' and a 'masquerade'

Qassem framed the ceasefire as a demand for surrender, calling it equivalent to 'a defeat and a capitulation, which serves the enemy's objectives.' He insisted any ceasefire must be 'global' and cannot grant Israel what he termed 'freedom to kill in Lebanon.' The Hezbollah chief also turned his fire on the Lebanese government's diplomatic track, urging Beirut to 'stop the masquerade and the humiliation of direct negotiations' with Israel, which he described as 'absurd, humiliating and shameful for Lebanon.' He claimed the outcome was 'rejected in block by a large part of the Lebanese population.'

As long as the occupation is present, the resistance continues.

Israel's position and ongoing operations

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz stated on Thursday that the IDF would continue its ground operations, with additional bombardments carried out during the day. He asserted that Israel had 'the freedom to act, with the support of the United States, to strike' the capital Beirut. The joint US-Israel-Lebanon statement made no mention of an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, instead noting that the two sides had accepted the creation of 'pilot zones' where the Lebanese army would progressively assume exclusive control. Israeli strikes on Thursday killed at least eight people and wounded eight others, including women and children, in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to the health ministry.

The Iran dimension

Hezbollah's rejection blocks any prospect of a broader compromise between the United States and Iran. Tehran has conditioned any agreement with Washington on a definitive end to hostilities in Lebanon and has even suggested it could break the truce to intervene in support of Hezbollah. The movement, aligned with Iran, dragged the country into war in early March by attacking Israel to avenge the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in an Israeli-American strike. Asked at the White House about the terms of the draft agreement under negotiation with Iran, Donald Trump declined to give details, telling reporters only: 'You will see.'

You will see.

A truce that never held

The ceasefire announced Wednesday followed a fourth negotiating session, but a previous truce in effect since 17 April had never been respected. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had described the new accord as 'the last chance to achieve a global and definitive ceasefire' with Israel. Despite Hezbollah's formal notification of its rejection, relayed to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri who shares the same position, the Lebanese government announced the forthcoming deployment of the army into 'pilot zones' in the south.