Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem warned on Saturday that his group would respond to Israeli “violations” of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon , stressing that its commitment “must be from both sides.”
Qassem said that the ten-day truce, which began at midnight between Thursday and Friday, means “a complete cessation of all hostilities, and because we do not trust this enemy, the resistance fighters will remain in the field with their hands on the trigger, and will respond to the aggression’s violations.”
He stressed that “there is no ceasefire from the side of the resistance only, but it must be from both sides.”
Qassem criticized the text of the ceasefire agreement published by the US State Department , which said it had the approval of both the Israeli and Lebanese governments.
The Secretary-General of Hezbollah believes that the published text “means nothing on a practical level, but it is an insult to our country and our homeland, Lebanon, that America dictates its text and speaks on behalf of the Lebanese government,” noting that the latter “did not meet, and did not issue approval for this statement.”
US President Donald Trump's announcement of a ceasefire came after he spoke with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ceasefire was followed by a meeting between Lebanon and Israel at the ambassadorial level in Washington, the first direct meeting at this level in decades, which will pave the way for direct negotiations that Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected.
The party's secretary-general said on Saturday, "Enough of burdening Lebanon with these insults in direct negotiations with the Israeli enemy to listen to its dictates, and in the shameful image in Washington where tyranny circles the prey, and issuing statements on behalf of Lebanon. This is a slippery slope that will never end."
In addition to the negotiations, the Lebanese government has taken a series of decisions in recent months that have been strongly opposed by Hezbollah, and they come within the framework of what it said was “extending the authority of the state” over all its territory and confirming the exclusivity of weapons in the hands of its official forces.
Despite his opposition to these measures, Naim Qassem affirmed that the party is “open to maximum cooperation with the authorities in Lebanon on a new page built on achieving the sovereignty of our homeland, Lebanon, within the framework of unity, preventing strife, and investing the potential of power within the national security strategy.”
Qassem thanked Iran, which supports the party, and Pakistan, which is leading mediation efforts between Tehran and Washington, for their contribution to reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon.
