‘We will not bow down,' says Hezbollah chief

BEIRUT: The sacrifices are great, but they are the price of liberation and dear life, borne by our great Lebanese people with their honourable resistance as a choice of two options: liberation and pride or occupation and humiliation, Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem said, according to Al Jazeera.

“We are continuing our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people, we will not return to the pre-March [status quo], we will respond to the Israeli aggression, and confront it. No matter what the enemy threatens, we will not retreat, we will not bow down, we will not be defeated,” he said.

Qassem added that their potential is “inexhaustible” and vowed that Israel will not stay in Lebanon, and “our people will return to their lands until the last inch of our southern border with occupied Palestine.”

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says direct negotiations are “out of the question” and his group will continue to resist and respond to Israeli “aggression”. “We will not give up weapons, and the defence and the field have proven our readiness for confrontation,” he said, according to Al Jazeera.

“The authorities [Lebanon’s government] rushed to make an unnecessary and gratuitous concession, and we categorically refuse direct negotiations [with Israel]. The authorities must stop direct negotiations and pursue a path of indirect negotiations,” Qassem added.

The Hezbollah chief said Israel, with the support of the US, bet on ending the group, but it has not succeeded since September 23, 2024, when Israel began a campaign of air strikes across Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera.

“The enemy has reached a dead end, this resistance is continuous, strong and cannot be defeated,” he said.

Qassem rejected the Lebanese government’s talks with Israel and outlined five conditions that must be met before direct talks can occur.

“Stopping the aggression on land, sea and air, the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories, the release of prisoners, the return of the people to all their villages and towns and reconstruction,” he said.

“The Lebanese Authority is responsible for stopping direct negotiations with the Israeli enemy and adopting indirect ones, and to void its decision in March that criminalises the resistance and its public base, which is more than half of the Lebanese people, so that it can pursue an internal dialogue that puts the interest of Lebanon above all consideration without succumbing to Israeli and foreign dictates,” Qassem said, as per Al Jazeera.

Israel strikes Lebanon

At least one person has been killed in an Israeli drone attack in the town of Qalila, southern Lebanon, the NNA news agency reported, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel and Hezbollah traded blame over violations of the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the military was "vigorously" targeting the Iran-backed militia as both sides claimed new attacks.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, with Israel responding with strikes and a ground invasion.

But claims that both sides have breached a 10-day ceasefire agreed earlier this month have continued.

Netanyahu told Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that Hezbollah's actions were "dismantling the ceasefire" while Hezbollah said it would respond to Israeli violations and its "continued occupation".

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country's south on Sunday killed 14 people, including two women and two children, and wounded 37.

The state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes had struck after evacuation warnings in Kfar Tibnit.

An Israeli strike on Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, another of the flagged villages, destroyed a mosque and another religious building, the news agency said.

Israel, which reported a soldier killed in combat in south Lebanon, says it can act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

"This means freedom of action not only to respond to attacks...but also to pre-empt immediate threats and even emerging threats," Netanyahu said.