Hezbollah warns Beirut against talks ‘with Zionist enemy’; IDF hits terror target in Tyre

The Hezbollah terror group lashed out on Thursday against the prospect of any political negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, and insisted that it had “a legitimate right to resist [Israeli] occupation.”

A source close to Hezbollah’s political leadership told AFP the declaration followed recent US and Egyptian pressure on Lebanon’s leaders to open direct negotiations.

In an open letter to the Lebanese government, the terror group urged Beirut to concentrate on forcing Israel to comply with the ceasefire, rather than “being drawn into political negotiations with the Zionist enemy.”

The letter was issued hours before the Lebanese government was due to discuss the progress of its push to disarm the group, which was badly wounded during its war with Israel last year.

Hezbollah’s warning came as the IDF carried out its latest airstrike against the terror group Thursday, saying it was targeting violations of the ceasefire.

The military confirmed a strike in the Tyre area of southern Lebanon shortly after noon, saying it targeted operatives in the terror group’s so-called construction unit. The operatives were targeted while gathered at a Hezbollah site, which the IDF said was used to “produce equipment used by the organization to restore terror infrastructure” that was destroyed in fighting last year.

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In Hezbollah’s letter, which was addressed to Lebanon’s three top officials — the prime minister, the president and the parliament speaker — the group said that “the government’s hasty decision regarding the monopoly of arms” allowed Israel to exploit the situation and make the disarmament a condition for ending its “violations” of the ceasefire.

It added that the issue of weapons “should be discussed within a national framework and not as a response to a foreign demand or Israeli blackmail.”

“We reaffirm our legitimate right… to defend ourselves against an enemy that imposes war on our country and does not cease its attacks,” Hezbollah said.

It also said it remained committed to a ceasefire reached with Israel last year, after months of hostilities that escalated into all-out war.

Israel says Hezbollah has been consistently and increasingly attempting to rebuild its capabilities in the south in order to threaten the Jewish state, leading to the intensifying strikes on terror targets.

The war with Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, when the terror group began firing missiles at Israel a day after the Hamas-led onslaught in the south. Israel launched massive airstrikes and a limited ground incursion in September 2024. A ceasefire was declared two months later, with Hezbollah left severely weakened.

Since then, the Lebanese army has drawn up a plan to disarm the terror group and has reportedly expended so much ordnance to blow up Hezbollah stockpiles that it has faced shortages of explosives. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has vowed not to lay down its arms.

As the government has thus far been unsuccessful in implementing a disarmament plan, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz last week accused Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun of “dragging his feet” on the issue.

“The Lebanese government’s commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be implemented. Maximum enforcement will continue and even intensify — we will not allow any threat to the residents of the north,” he said.

President Aoun has criticized Israel for intensifying its strikes after he said he was open to negotiating with Israel.

The IDF, meanwhile, has kept troops stationed at five points in Lebanon, and regularly strikes what it says are Hezbollah’s attempts to rearm.

Israel warned last week that it could intensify operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of trying to rearm.

US envoy Tom Barrack said that dialogue with Israel could be the key to easing tensions.