Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon security deal as 'surrender'

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected ​a U.S.-brokered security agreement between ​Lebanon and Israel on Saturday a day after it ​was signed, describing it as a surrender to Israel.

In the latest example of ongoing hostilities despite repeated ceasefires and agreements, Israel launched a drone strike in Lebanon's south.

More than a ‌million Lebanese have ⁠been ⁠driven from their homes by a conflict that has run in parallel with the wider Iran ​war. Hezbollah and Iran say Washington pledged to end hostilities in Lebanon as part of ​its memorandum of understanding signed two weeks ago to end the wider war.


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The framework agreed on Friday provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal from some ​parts of southern Lebanon, alongside the deployment of the ⁠Lebanese army. ‌But Israeli forces would be permitted to remain in ​an expanded security ​zone for the time being, pending further implementation.

In a ⁠statement, Qassem called it "null and void", and accused the Lebanese ​government of making unilateral concessions and undermining Lebanon's sovereignty.

He ​criticised provisions linking Israel's withdrawal to Hezbollah's disarmament, saying they effectively legitimised Israel's military presence and crossed "all red lines".

The group would continue its armed resistance, he added: "We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it."

Lebanon's state news agency said an Israeli drone struck ‌Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Saturday. The area is outside the security zone shown on a map published by Israel of the territory ​its troops ​will continue to control.

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The ⁠Israeli military told Reuters it had carried out the strike, using a drone because it had no troops in the immediate area. It said it targeted ​an individual who posed a threat to its forces, without giving further details or evidence.

Qassem said the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding reached earlier this month, which guarantees Lebanon's territorial integrity, should serve as the basis for ending the conflict, rather than Friday's Washington agreement.