Qassem again rejects Lebanon-Israel deal, refuses 'surrender'

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has again rejected a deal struck between Israel and Lebanon and said his Iran-backed group refused to "surrender" nearly six months after war erupted with Israel.

"We are against the framework agreement and call for its downfall," Qassem said in a televised address broadcast on the group's al-Manar television channel.

Israel and Lebanon launched U.S.-sponsored direct talks after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by attacking Israel, which responded with massive strikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.

At talks in late June, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework deal that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the region, starting in "pilot zones".

"The framework agreement is illegitimate, unlawful, humiliating, destructive to Lebanese sovereignty," Qassem said.

"We do not agree to the 'pilot zones' or to what comes from them," he said, also rejecting any proposed verification system.

After talks in Rome earlier this month, a Lebanese source told AFP that agreement was reached on a "shortlist" of countries that might oversee the implementation of the pilot zone process, namely the Lebanese Army's dismantlement of any Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas.

A fresh round of talks had been planned for early September, but no date has been announced yet.

Although violence has dropped since a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader conflict in June and the Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month, Lebanon still reports regular Israeli strikes, artillery shelling and broad demolitions of civilian buildings in southern villages and towns.

Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone", which runs around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanese territory along the border.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency on Friday reported several Israeli airstrikes in the country's south including on the Nabatieh area, where it has increased attacks in recent days.

Qassem said his group supported the implementation of a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end a previous war with Israel.

"We will keep our heads high and we will not surrender," he vowed.