Hezbollah Rejects Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire, Says Talks Are Futile and Humiliating

Hezbollah rejected a renewed Israel-Lebanon ceasefire that was agreed by Israel and Lebanon and included the creation of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon where Hezbollah operatives would be banned and Hezbollah would have to stop attacking Israel.

“Hezbollah rejects renewed ceasefire agreed by Israel and Lebanon In a strongly worded statement, the Iran-backed group's leader Naim Qassem said negotiations had been "futile" and "humiliating" for Lebanon, and rejected categorically by "broad segments of the Lebanese people"”

BBC

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said negotiations were "futile" and "humiliating" for Lebanon, and the BBC reported that the mood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah also known as Dahieh, included storekeeper Sami saying, "You cannot have a ceasefire from one side, it's going to be an all side or no ceasefire."

BBC

The agreement was reached after a fourth round of US-mediated talks in Washington and was contingent on the "evacuation of all [Hezbollah] operatives" from an area between the Israeli border and the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) to the north, currently occupied by Israeli ground forces.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the ceasefire "could be implemented within 24 hours of its final approval" by all concerned parties, while Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military would "for the time being, continue its fire and operations on the ground" to "dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area."

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, Sami told the BBC that strikes in Lebanon on Thursday left him doubting the agreement’s meaning, asking, "If this was supposed to be a truce, what did that make it?"

Hezbollah’s rejection was echoed in the DW report, which said the group rejected the ceasefire mediated by the United States between Israel and the Lebanese government, and it quoted Hezbollah’s secretary-general Naim Qassem rejecting the deal.

DW

The DW account also described Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, as alluding on Friday morning (June 5, 2026) to a possible "withdrawal" from the area south of the Litani River in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal and a comprehensive ceasefire.

In the same DW report, Israel continued its airstrikes on southern Lebanon, and it quoted Defense Minister Yisrael Katz saying the Israeli forces would not withdraw from the area or halt operations in Lebanon.

The US-backed framework described by Naharnet said the Wednesday agreement to extend an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire and create Hezbollah-free zones in southern Lebanon was the first step in a process that must end with "the demilitarization of the Hezbollah militants" and "full security control south of the Litani River" by the Lebanese Armed forces.

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Naharnet

Naharnet also reported a U.S. official’s claim that the June 3 agreement "exposed that cynical strategy" after the official said Iran wanted to prolong the conflict and "claim credit for saving the day" by trying to undermine the talks.

In the BBC account of the deal’s conditions, the US would help guide the creation of "pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors" while the agreement did not include any maps indicating where the pilot zones would be located.

With Hezbollah rejecting the arrangement, the BBC reported that the two countries’ representatives will meet again on 22 June to hold further talks "with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement," even as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue its fire and operations on the ground for now.