Hezbollah Rejects U.S.-Declared Ceasefire, Demands Israeli Withdrawal as Israel Continues Ground Operations

Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and to establish “experimental zones” inside Lebanon where Hezbollah elements are prohibited, the U.S. State Department said, while Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said Israel would continue its ground operations in southern Lebanon “for the time being.”

Katz said Israeli forces would remain in what Israel calls the “security zone” in southern Lebanon, including the Qal’at al-Shqif fortress, and he added that Lebanese residents forced to leave their homes because of Israeli operations would not be able to return.

Al-Bawaba Akhbar Al-Youm Al-Electroniyya

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Na’im Qassem rejected the Washington-declared ceasefire, calling it “direct, futile, humiliating, and shameful negotiations for Lebanon,” and he vowed to continue attacks against Israel “as long as the aggression continues.”

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said “The next step is practical and tangible” and described the deployment of the Lebanese army in experimental zones as a first phase that “does not drop our right to full withdrawal.”

Hezbollah rejected the ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and Israel, and Israel said it would not withdraw troops from Lebanon, undermining U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to halt fighting there to forge peace with Tehran.

CBC reported that Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem rejected the Washington declaration, insisting “resistance will continue,” while the same reporting said Israel kept up strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

Al-Sahifa

In southeastern Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said a UN peacekeeper died Thursday after mortar shells hit his position near Marjayoun, and it said two other peacekeepers were wounded and it had opened an investigation into the incident.

NBC News said Kassem rejected the agreement and demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal, warning that the deal’s demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals.”

The U.S.-brokered framework described by the BBC included “experimental zones” where Hezbollah elements are prohibited, and Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the Lebanese army deployment in those zones would be the first phase toward full withdrawal.

Kurdistan24 reported that following a fourth round of U.S.-mediated negotiations in Washington, a joint statement proposed a ceasefire conditioned on Hezbollah ending its attacks and withdrawing operatives from the area south of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers north of the Israeli border.

The same reporting said Hezbollah rejected the agreement and that Qassem urged the Lebanese government to end what he described as “the farce and humiliation called direct talks” with Israel, while Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz signaled that “Our army will, at this stage, continue its fire and ground operations.”

NBC News said the ongoing fighting in Lebanon threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and it also reported that Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon since Hezbollah began launching rocket and drone attacks in solidarity with Iran days into the wider war.