Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Saturday accused Israel of violating the November ceasefire agreement, warning that the terror group would act if the Lebanese government failed to resolve the matter diplomatically.
Speaking with Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, Qassem said it fell to the Lebanese state to respond to Israeli strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon, but warned that “if Israel does not abide by the terms of the truce and the government fails to achieve the desired results, we will have no choice but to consider other options.”
On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces attacked Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh neighborhood for the first time in four months, targeting drone storage facilities used by Hezbollah’s aerial unit (Unit 127). The strikes came in response to two rockets fired at the Galilee city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday morning, the third such breach of the ceasefire since it went into effect on Nov. 27.
Qassem accused the Jewish state of seeking normalization with Lebanon via pressure, “whether by occupying the five disputed areas or through repeated raids.” Hezbollah would reject any type of normalization, and “would not accept any arrangement that would allow Israel to operate freely within Lebanese territory,” he said.
“Israel must withdraw unconditionally, and the reconstruction process in Lebanon must continue without any restrictions,” he added.
The November ceasefire required an Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah moving north of the Litani River and the Lebanese Armed Forces acting as a buffer between the two.
However, Israel announced in February that it would maintain a presence in five key strategic locations on the Israel-Lebanon border. These positions are deemed essential for ensuring the security of northern Israeli communities until the LAF is fully able to assume control over Southern Lebanon under a U.S.-monitored mechanism.
On March 14, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Israeli troops will remain at the five outposts “indefinitely,” despite the launch of talks with Beirut over 13 disputed points along the international border.
On March 26, the Israeli Air Force killed a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in the Southern Lebanese town of Derdghaiya.
According to the IDF, Ahmad Adnan Bajjiga had orchestrated numerous attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers during the ongoing conflict, and had recently been directing operations targeting Israel’s home front.
