Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has strongly rejected an upcoming meeting between the Lebanese government and Israel in the United States, labeling such efforts as "futile". In a televised speech on Monday, he called on the government to take "a historic and heroic stance" by not attending the planned talks. Qassem asserted that the negotiations are a ploy by the Israeli regime to pressure Hezbollah into laying down its weapons.
The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US are scheduled to meet in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to discuss holding direct negotiations between the two countries. However, Qassem dismissed this process as a "free concession" to Israel and the US. He cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that the goal is to disarm Hezbollah, emphasizing that the objective is already clear and undermines any genuine dialogue.
Israeli forces intensified their war on Lebanon in early March following a salvo of rockets launched by Hezbollah. A ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed group had ostensibly been in effect since November 2024, but Israel continued carrying out near-daily deadly attacks. Hezbollah claimed its March 2 attack was retaliation for the US and Israeli regime's killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei two days earlier.
Since then, Israel's bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south have killed at least 2,055 people, including 165 children and 87 medical workers. More than 6,500 others have been wounded, while some 1.2 million have been forced from their homes. Lebanese authorities insist the priority is to secure a ceasefire, but Israel has said it wants to open formal peace negotiations with Lebanon, placing Hezbollah's disarmament as a priority with no mention of a ceasefire or withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon.
Qassem's speech came after hundreds of people in the capital, Beirut, protested on Friday and Saturday against the planned talks. Demonstrators accused Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam of betraying the Lebanese people by holding direct talks with Israel, while it continues its bombing campaign and expands its invasion. Meanwhile, the Israeli military on Monday said its forces had completely surrounded the key southern town of Bint Jbeil, while Hezbollah continued to claim attacks against Israeli forces there.
Source: www.aljazeera.com