Hezbollah rejected the agreement between Israel and Lebanon: the withdrawal of troops from the south of the country was linked to the disarmament of the group

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the security framework agreement signed the day before by Israel, Lebanon and the United States. He called the document a “surrender” to Israel and said the group would not give up armed resistance. The agreement provides for a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from parts of occupied southern Lebanon, but links this process to the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Kassem said that the agreement was “invalid” and that the Lebanese authorities made unilateral concessions and undermined the country’s sovereignty. According to him, the conditions under which Israel will withdraw troops only after the disarmament of Hezbollah will actually legitimize Israel’s military presence in Lebanon and cross “all red lines.”

The framework document was signed on June 26 in Washington by the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon to the United States through the mediation of American authorities. According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agreement should create a mechanism to restore control of the Lebanese authorities over the entire territory of the country, disarm Hezbollah and dismantle its military infrastructure. The US will also create a trilateral military coordination group with Israel and Lebanon.

In accordance with the agreement, the Lebanese army must gradually occupy part of the areas in the south of the country controlled by Israeli troops. Israeli forces will be able to remain in the expanded “security zone” for now until further compliance with the terms of the document. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli troops would remain in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah was disarmed.

The fighting continued after the signing of the agreement. The Lebanese state agency reported that on June 27, an Israeli drone attacked the town of Nabatiya al-Fawqa in the south of the country. Reuters writes that this area is outside the zone that Israel has designated as an area of ​​further military control. The Israeli army confirmed the strike, saying the target was a man who posed a threat to its troops, but did not provide evidence.

This is not the first such agreement that Hezbollah has rejected. On June 3, Israel and Lebanon, through US mediation, approved a ceasefire agreement that provided for the transfer of several “pilot security zones” to the control of the Lebanese army and the withdrawal of the group’s militants from there. The next day, Naim Qassem called these terms "capitulation and defeat" and said that Hezbollah had not committed to stopping the fighting.