Hezbollah leader appears to reject Lebanon truce offer as ‘surrender’

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem says that his group will keep bombarding northern Israel as long as strikes continue in Lebanon, in comments that appear to reject a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Beirut.

In a written statement read on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV on Thursday, Qassem says the agreement’s demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals.”

As long as Lebanese villages are being bombed and people are being killed, northern Israel will not be safe, he says.

“What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” Qassem says. “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation.”

Qassem also urges the Lebanese government to quit the “farce” of direct talks with Israel.