Hezbollah MP vows terror group will ‘thwart’ Lebanon-Israel talks as clashes persist

A Hezbollah lawmaker on Sunday said that the terror group will be able to “thwart” the objectives of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, as the Iranian proxy fired several rockets and drones at IDF troops operating across the border despite a declared ceasefire. Speaking at an event honoring killed Hezbollah operatives, Hassan Fadlallah said that “these negotiations with all their results do not concern us, and we will not implement them.” “We have a free people and a steadfast resistance capable of thwarting all the objectives of these negotiations, which increase the sharp division in the country between the factions of our people and within the state itself,” Fadlallah said.

The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the US have held two meetings in Washington in recent weeks, the first of their kind in decades. Washington has urged Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, whose government seeks to disarm Hezbollah, to meet directly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Aoun has so far avoided. Hezbollah has strongly rejected the talks, with its leader Naim Qassem calling them a “sin.” Fadlallah said on Sunday that “any new agreement that will be established in Lebanon must guarantee that our country will not be attacked in any way.”

Hezbollah and Israel have continued to attack each other since US President Donald Trump first announced a ceasefire on April 16, which has now largely unraveled, though fighting remains at a lower level than before. On Saturday, the Lebanese army said its commander Gen. Rudolf Haykal met with US Gen. Joseph Clearfield, who heads the committee monitoring the ceasefire. The participants at the meeting underlined the importance of the Lebanese army’s role and the need to support it during the current phase, the Lebanese statement added.    (Read More)