Hezbollah chief says negotiating with Israel under fire tantamount to ‘surrender’

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says negotiating with Israel under fire would amount to “surrender” for Lebanon, and urges the government to reverse its ban on the party’s military activities.

“When negotiations with the Israeli enemy are proposed under fire, this is an imposition of surrender,” Qassem says, rejecting the Lebanese president’s initiative to start direct negotiations “with an enemy that occupies our land and carries out daily attacks.”

Qassem calls on the Lebanese people to embrace “national unity,” saying this could be achieved by the government reversing its decision to ban Hezbollah’s military activities.

The March 2 decision came hours after Hezbollah started launching rocket attacks at Israel for the first time since the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal, triggering massive Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.