Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a U.S.-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel on Saturday a day after it was signed, describing it as a surrender to Israel.
The group says it will continue its armed resistance under instructions from Tehran © Reuters/Mena Today
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a U.S.-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel on Saturday a day after it was signed, describing it as a surrender to Israel.
The framework agreed on Friday provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal from some parts of southern Lebanon, alongside the deployment of the Lebanese army. But Israeli forces would be permitted to remain in an expanded security zone for the time being, pending further implementation.
In a statement, Qassem called it "null and void", and accused the Lebanese government of making unilateral concessions and undermining Lebanon's sovereignty.
He criticised provisions linking Israel's withdrawal to Hezbollah's disarmament, saying they effectively legitimised Israel's military presence and crossed "all red lines".
The group would continue its armed resistance, he added: "We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it."
Qassem said the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding reached earlier this month, which guarantees Lebanon's territorial integrity, should serve as the basis for ending the conflict, rather than Friday's Washington agreement.
By Jana Choukeir, Eman Abouhassira and Pesha Magid
US Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced legislation Thursday that would authorize up to $1.2 billion in security assistance to Lebanon over five years, with part of the funding conditioned on Beirut's progress toward a state monopoly on arms and the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launched ballistic missiles and drones at displacement camps and residential neighbourhoods in the city of Marib on Friday, killing two people and wounding 14, state news agency SABA reported, citing local authorities.
Iran said on Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz was close but would not be enough to free up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran had hit another ship there.
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