Hezbollah stated that it would not adhere to any agreements between Lebanon and Israel in the US
Kyiv • UNN
The Hezbollah group opposes direct negotiations between the parties in the US. The militants do not recognize agreements and are ready to discuss weapons only after the withdrawal of troops.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will not abide by any agreements that may result from direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in the United States, negotiations it strongly opposes, a senior Hezbollah official said on Monday, AP reports, writes UNN.
Details
Wafiq Safa, a senior member of Hezbollah's political council, spoke ahead of talks expected in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US. This will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, will meet face-to-face in direct negotiations.
As for the results of these negotiations between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested or concerned about them at all. We are not obliged to abide by what they agree on.
He spoke next to a cemetery as an Israeli drone buzzed overhead, the publication writes.
Historic talks at a delicate time
Lebanese officials are seeking a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah in talks with the US.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal is to disarm Hezbollah and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said on Monday that there would be no ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Separately, at peace talks between the US and Iran held last weekend in Pakistan, Iran sought to include Lebanon in any ceasefire agreement of its own with the US. Israel and the US insisted that Lebanon would not be a part of it.
Hours after Tehran and Washington announced a truce last Wednesday, Israel launched more than 100 strikes across Lebanon, including densely populated residential and commercial areas of central Beirut.
And although the US-Iran talks ended without an agreement, Safa said that Hezbollah was informed that Iran "was able to achieve a cessation of attacks" throughout the administrative district of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut - an area known as Dahiya, where Hezbollah has strong positions.
Israeli strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs have ceased since Wednesday, but intense fighting continues in southern Lebanon, the publication writes.
In a televised address on Monday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem himself called on Lebanon to withdraw from direct negotiations with Israel, calling the talks a "free concession" to Israel and the US.
Deteriorating relations with the government
Relations between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah, which is not just a militant group but also a political party with a parliamentary bloc, are becoming increasingly strained.
Last year, the government approved a plan to remove all weapons not owned by the state - its security forces or military - and later stated that it had largely completed the task south of the Litani River, where Hezbollah fighters are now fighting Israeli forces.
After March 2, the government went further, declaring Hezbollah's armed wing illegal.
Safa said that Hezbollah is currently not communicating directly with President Joseph Aoun or Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, but all its communications go through Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the head of the Amal party, which is an ally of Hezbollah.
Safa said that if a ceasefire is reached and Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanon, Hezbollah, which calls itself a "resistance" movement against its sworn enemy Israel, is ready to negotiate with the Lebanese government on the fate of its weapons.
"The issue of resistance weapons is a Lebanese matter that has nothing to do with Israel or the United States," he said.