Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon framework as Israel detonation follows ceasefire terms

Israel detonates tunnel, strikes Lebanon

The Israeli army destroyed an extensive tunnel in southern Lebanon on Sunday, with Lebanese state media reporting strikes in the area and Iran-backed Hezbollah saying it reserves the right to respond to these attacks.The incidents came despite a trilateral framework agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel under US sponsorship on Friday to pave the way for peace between the two countries and disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah.Also read: Iran and US agree to halt attacks and renew talks, U.S. official saysLebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported several strikes Sunday, including on the southern city of Nabatieh, with the Lebanese health ministry saying two people were wounded by an Israeli stun grenade in the south."The tunnel, stretching more than 200 metres and reaching a depth of over 25 metres, contained hundreds of weapons as well as several launch shafts intended to target the State of Israel and its civilians," Katz and Netanyahu said in a joint statement."Israel informed the United States and the US representative in Lebanon in advance of the destruction of the infrastructure."An AFP reporter in the coastal city of Tyre, situated about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the location of the detonation near the village of Majdal Zoun, saw smoke rising in the distance.He said residents in towns south of Tyre left after hearing reports in the Lebanese media that Israel might detonate nearby.In response to the attacks on Sunday, Hezbollah said it "reiterates that what the enemy has done is a blatant violation of the ceasefire to which it has adhered until now, and that it is monitoring and tracking these violations, and reserves its right to defend its homeland and its people".Pressure on Hezbollah The Israeli army said one of its soldiers "fell in combat" in southern Lebanon, and later said it killed a "Hezbollah terrorist" who had clashed with its forces.Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday that his country "would assume its responsibilities" in implementing the agreement.The deal makes any Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese land conditional on Beirut disarming Hezbollah by creating "pilot zones" that the Lebanese military will take over.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal historic for his country and a blow to Tehran.Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has insisted troops will stay in Lebanon so long as Hezbollah remains armed.Also read: Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon security deal as 'surrender''Internal conflict' Hezbollah strongly opposed the talks with Israel from the start and rejects the agreement.Leader Naim Qassem said on Saturday that the group would treat the deal as "null and void" and described it as "a surrender of sovereignty".On Sunday, an AFP correspondent saw signs reading "Lebanon first" being burned along Beirut's airport road, which borders the city's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, after previous billboards saying "thank you Iran" were removed.Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Sunday that what "the authorities have done amounts to sedition aimed at pushing the country into chaos and shifting the conflict from one with the enemy to an internal conflict".Lebanese Parliament Speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri said the deal would "not pass" in its current form, calling it a dictate that does not preserve "Lebanon's rights", vowing to confront it politically and warning against internal strife."It is ten times worse than the May 17, 1983 agreement," he added, referring to the last time Lebanon and Israel signed a peace deal, which was then cancelled after pressure from Syria and its Lebanese allies.Hezbollah repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to link themselves to Iran's negotiations to end its war with the US, while Tehran has insisted any ceasefire for the Middle East war should include Lebanon.In a phone conversation with Berri, the Iranian parliament speaker and head of Tehran's negotiating delegation Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said "our goal is to end the war in Lebanon, return the refugees to their homes and remove the occupation and the withdrawal of the Zionist regime from the Lebanese territory".

3 hours ago

Hezbollah declares Israel-Lebanon deal void

Beirut: Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem has issued a blistering rejection of the newly signed framework agreement between the Lebanese authorities and Israel, formally declaring the pact "null and void."In a statement issued following the announcement of the US-mediated deal, Qassem characterised the agreement as a "humiliating" and "shameful" surrender of Lebanese sovereignty that prioritises Israeli and American dictates over the nation's independence.The Hezbollah leader centred his critique on the claim that the agreement bypasses the superior protections offered by a separate Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the US. According to Qassem, the MoU, which he described as a "gift of honour, dignity, and strength," stipulated an immediate, permanent cessation of hostilities, complete Israeli withdrawal and guaranteed Lebanon's territorial integrity.Read More: What challenges lie ahead for the US-Israel-Lebanon agreement?"The authorities are legitimizing the occupation for many years to come, and this could even lead to the annexation of these lands to the Zionist entity! This is an agreement that deprives the Lebanese of their right to return to their land. What business does the Israeli enemy have interfering in our internal affairs in Lebanon? Any agreement must be confined to the area south of the LitRiver and have no connection to any internal Lebanese matter concerning weapons, security, or the future of the country," he stated.Linking an Israeli withdrawal to the disarmament of the resistance throughout Lebanon is a very dangerous proposition that crosses all red lines and makes Lebanon a pawn in the hands of the Israeli enemy!He urged international and Arab pressure to be applied to force the Israeli enemy to adhere to this timeline, dismissing any agreement that links withdrawal to the internal disarmament of the resistance as a dangerous violation of Lebanon's right to self-defence.Qassem further launched a sharp attack on the Lebanese government, accusing officials of acting against the will of a significant portion of the population and violating the constitution by engaging in direct negotiations with what he termed the "Zionist enemy entity."He argued that the authorities possess no leverage in these talks because they "willingly abandoned the power of the resistance" and "stabbed the resistance in the back" through previous government decisions."We told the authorities that direct negotiations are nothing but gratuitous concessions to Israel, because they are meetings designed to force submission to the demands of aggression and the dictates of Israel and the United States. You are going to these meetings in hostility and disagreement with more than half of the Lebanese people, and in violation of the constitution and laws that consider the Israeli entity an enemy and hold accountable, legally, anyone who deals with it in word or deed. You have no leverage to fight with because you willingly abandoned the power of the resistance and the people, and you stabbed the resistance in the back by declaring it an outlaw in the heart of the war, from the very first moment," he stated."Where is the integrity of the Lebanese authorities and their responsibility towards their people and the protection of Lebanon's sovereignty, which the American guardian did not grant them a ceasefire, and when it came to them from the Pakistan talks between America and Iran in April 2026, they rejected it, which made the Israeli enemy commit the crime of Black Wednesday in which hundreds were killed and wounded, people were terrorized, and destruction was caused by one hundred air raids across Lebanon, starting from the capital, Beirut?" he asked.He further expressed deep alarm over the agreement's mechanisms, particularly the provision for a pilot program in two zones near the "Yellow Line," where the Lebanese Army would operate under Israeli monitoring. Qassem warned that this effectively legitimises a long-term occupation."What is this appalling blunder? What is this grave sin of surrendering sovereignty to the Israeli enemy? Netanyahu is allowing the Lebanese army to operate in two experimental zones! The enemy is monitoring its deployment and disarmament steps, and the tripartite committee is complying with the enemy's demands. The experimental period in these two zones could last for months, and no further experimentation will occur without a certificate of good conduct from the Israeli enemy and the implementation of what Israel failed to achieve on the ground!" he questioned.Qaseem signalled that Hezbollah intends to continue its operations, claiming that the current ceasefire does not diminish its right to defend the country.Read More: Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon security deal as 'surrender'"We will pursue all necessary means and exert international and Arab pressure to compel the Israeli enemy to abide by the first clause of the Memorandum of Understanding and withdraw from Lebanon," Qassem declared.He concluded the statement by urging Lebanese authorities to "retract your sins" and inviting them to cooperate on a national security strategy that prioritises the liberation of land and the return of displaced citizens, while reaffirming that Hezbollah would "continue as a resistance in the field to defeat the occupation."This follows the formal signing of the trilateral framework agreement by the United States, Israel and Lebanon on Friday.The accord, concluded after several days of intense deliberations in Washington, represents a major breakthrough aimed at ceasing hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, though officials from both sides termed it merely an initial step towards a wider settlement.

20 hours ago