Hezbollah leader urges Lebanon to quit direct Israel talks

Qassem also said the dispute over Hezbollah’s possession of weapons was an internal affair and shouldn’t be part of the talks with Israel.

By The Associated Press

The leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, called on the government Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel, calling them a concession and urging “indirect negotiations.”

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold two days of talks in Washington starting Thursday in an attempt to end the latest fighting that broke out two months ago, following the Iran war, and discuss the future of relations between the two sides that have been at war since Israel was created in 1948.

Hezbollah leader urges indirect talks

Naim Qassem said in a letter directed to the group’s officials that direct negotiations benefit Israel and that they are “concessions by Lebanese authorities.”

He said Lebanon’s government should instead resort to indirect negotiations with Israel, as in previous years, such as when a ceasefire was reached in November 2023.

Indirect talks are usually done through a third party.

Qassem also said the dispute over Hezbollah’s possession of weapons was an internal affair and shouldn’t be part of the talks with Israel.

The Lebanese government has sought the disarmament of the terror group after the latest round of fighting broke out in early March, calling all terror activities by the group illegal.

Lebanese authorities have also demanded cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, deployment of Lebanese troops south of the Litani river, the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel and the return of displaced people to their homes.

Qassem said Tuesday Hezbollah is ready to cooperate to help achieve the five points demanded by the country’s government.

Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, which went into effect on April 17, Israel and Hezbollah have continued carrying out daily attacks.

Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told reporters Tuesday that since the ceasefire went into effect, 380 people have been killed and 1,122 wounded.

He added that since the latest war started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Hezbollah, the death toll in Lebanon has reached 2,882 dead and 8,786 wounded.

Since the early hours of Tuesday, Israel’s air force has carried out strikes in different parts of southern Lebanon as well as the village of Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said airstrikes on the village of Jibchit killed three and wounded four on Tuesday.

The Israeli military had earlier issued an evacuation warning to the residents of Sohmor and four villages in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military posted photos of troops along the Litani River without providing exact location details.

Hezbollah issued a statement saying that its fighters struck Israeli troops Tuesday morning near the Litani River in the village of Deir Seryan with rockets. It gave no further details.

Also on Tuesday, Hezbollah confirmed that one of its military commanders was killed in an airstrike near Beirut last week. The group released a photo of Ahmed Ghaleb Balout describing him as a commander who spent much of his life on the battlefield.

Balout was killed May 6 in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut.

It was the first airstrike near Beirut since the ceasefire went into effect.

The Israeli military said Thursday it had killed Balout, who it identified as a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, along with two other terrorists.