Χεζμπολάχ today rejected a ceasefire plan agreed upon by the governments of Lebanon and Israel during talks under the auspices of the USA, while Israel continued its attacks in southern Lebanon and declared it will not withdraw from the area.

Lebanon and Israel agreed yesterday to implement a ceasefire, which is dependent on the “full cessation” of hostilities by Hezbollah. The truce agreement also depends on the “evacuation” of the area south of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers north of the Israeli border, by members of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah did not participate in these negotiations.

In response to the announced agreement, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement, Naím Kásem, stated that the negotiations were disgraceful, rejecting the Washington declaration as a “roadmap for the extermination of a segment of the Lebanese people and the subjugation of the rest.”

He characterized the agreement between Israel and Lebanon as “capitulation and defeat,” calling on the Lebanese government to “stop the farce and humiliation of negotiations” with Israel.

“As long as there is occupation, the resistance will continue,” Kásem said in a written statement.

He emphasized that a ceasefire must include southern Lebanon, where Israel has established a self-proclaimed security zone, which, according to him, aims to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks.

The head of the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement added that the cities in northern Israel will not be safe “as long as our villages are not safe, being bombed, destroyed, and our people are being killed.”

The leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, who founded Hezbollah in 1982, stated that “the minimum demand of the resistance” is the withdrawal of Israel to the positions it held before the start of the war and the incursion of Israeli forces into southern Lebanon, as reported by APE-MPE.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated earlier today that Israel will continue its ground operations in southern Lebanon for now, and Lebanese residents who have been forced by Israel to leave their homes will not be able to return.

On the other hand, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun mentioned earlier that the agreement in Washington is “the last chance to achieve a comprehensive and final ceasefire” with Israel.