The leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem, rejected on Thursday the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon announced the day before in Washington, demanding a total withdrawal of Israeli forces and threatening northern Israel with new attacks.

Published on: 04/06/2026 - 07:43 Modified on: 04/06/2026 - 22:25

The leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem, on Thursday, June 4, called for a "global" ceasefire in Lebanon and Israeli withdrawal from the country, calling on Beirut to "stop the charade" of negotiations with Israel the day after the announcement of an agreement in Washington.

Earlier in the day, Israeli strikes left eight dead and eight injured, including women and children, in the south and east of the country, according to the Health Ministry.

“The ceasefire must be global, without dissociating the South from the rest of the country,” declared Naïm Qassem in a message broadcast by his party channel.

The pro-Iranian group dragged the country into war in early March by attacking Israel to avenge the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Israeli-American attack.

In an attempt to end hostilities, Lebanese authorities began negotiations with Israel under the aegis of the United States, for the first time in decades, even though these two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations. But Hezbollah is opposed to it.

At the end of a fourth session on Wednesday, a new agreement was announced, the truce in force since April 17 having never been respected. It provides for a ceasefire conditional on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire – and constitutes, according to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, “the last chance to achieve a global and definitive ceasefire” with Israel.

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“As long as the occupation is present, the resistance continues”

The leader of Hezbollah, for his part, stressed that there would be "no security" for northern Israel "without security for the villages" in southern Lebanon, while the agreement provides for continued shooting and operations by the Israeli army in the area at this stage. “As long as the occupation is present, the resistance continues,” he warned.

Hezbollah is called upon to evacuate the area between the Israeli border and the Litani River, around thirty kilometers further north, and to cease hostilities.

Foreseeing "the cessation of firing by Hezbollah and the withdrawal of resistance fighters (...) from the South, while the aggression continues", is equivalent to "a defeat and a capitulation, which serves the objectives of the enemy", reacted Naïm Qassem.

The Shiite formation has formally informed the Lebanese authorities of its refusal of the agreement, one of its officials told AFP on condition of anonymity. Despite this rejection, the Lebanese government announced the upcoming deployment of the army "in pilot areas" in the South.

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Death of a peacekeeper

For now, attacks between the two camps continue, between Israeli strikes and Hezbollah fire.

In southern Lebanon, a Serbian peacekeeper was also killed – the seventh death in the ranks of UNIFIL since the beginning of March – and two UN soldiers injured in a mortar attack, which occurred late Wednesday evening.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned this “murder”, calling for respect for the ceasefire, according to his spokesperson.

An investigation is underway to determine the origin, with the Israeli army accusing Hezbollah. An “unfounded and misleading” allegation, the group responded in a press release.

Since the start of the truce on April 17, both sides have accused each other of violating it and Israel is carrying out its deepest military incursion into Lebanon since 2000.

On the other front of the conflict, negotiations between Washington and Tehran are slipping. And Iran demands that any agreement include a ceasefire in Lebanon, with a withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,500 people since the conflict began on March 2 and displaced more than a million people, according to authorities. On the Israeli side, 27 soldiers and a civilian contractor were killed in Lebanon, after the announcement on Thursday of a new death.

With AFP

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