Hezbollah leader pledges to cooperate with army to respect ceasefire with Israel

Lebanese Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem pledged Friday to cooperate with the Lebanese army, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with the ceasefire with Israel, in his first intervention since it came into effect Wednesday in Lebanon.

The truce, which ended more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open warfare between the two belligerents, is already being tested: the Israeli army announced Friday that it had carried out an airstrike against pro-Iranian Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

“The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese army will be at a high level to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement, sponsored by Washington and Paris, assured Naïm Qassem in a pre-recorded speech.

The plan calls for the Israeli army to withdraw within 60 days from southern Lebanon, which it entered on September 30, a week after launching a massive bombing campaign against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is to withdraw to the north of the Litani River, about 30 km from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south, where only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers will be deployed.

On a road leading to southern Lebanon, a banner displays portraits of Hezbollah leaders killed by Israel, November 29, 2024 © AFP – Mahmoud ZAYYAT

“Let no one bet on problems or conflict” with the army, added the Hezbollah leader who recently succeeded Hassan Nasrallah, killed by an Israeli strike in late September in his stronghold south of Beirut.

“The resistance will be ready to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Lebanon's weakness with our partners (…) and first and foremost the army,” he continued, pledging to contribute to “strengthening Lebanon's defensive capabilities.”

Naim Qassem also claimed a “great victory” over Israel, preventing it “from destroying Hezbollah, and from annihilating the Resistance or weakening it.” Weakened by the Israeli operation, which notably decimated its leadership, the movement armed and supported by Iran nevertheless remains a key player on the Lebanese political scene.

– “Intensive warfare” –

“Recently, terrorist activities and the movement of a mobile rocket launcher were detected in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli army had indicated earlier, publishing on X a video showing a strike on a slow-moving truck.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Thursday an “intensive war” in the event of a violation of the truce, after a first strike by the army on a facility used, according to it, by Hezbollah to store medium-range rockets.

At the funeral of Hezbollah fighters in the village of Maarake, southern Lebanon, November 29, 2024 © AFP – Mahmoud ZAYYAT

The Lebanese army, which has begun deploying troops and armored vehicles in the south of the country, accused Israel on Thursday of having violated the agreement “repeatedly”.

Israeli soldiers also opened fire on southern Lebanese residents during a funeral in a border village on Friday, according to the Lebanese news agency Ani.

The Israeli army warned residents of Lebanon — 900,000 of whom have been displaced in 13 months of hostilities — returning to their homes in the south on Wednesday to stay away from its positions. It imposed a nighttime curfew on Thursday across the entire area south of the Litani River, which it extended until Saturday morning.

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country provides support to the Lebanese army along with the United States, called for an “immediate” end to all “actions that contravene” the implementation of the ceasefire, during talks Thursday with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and House Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.

– “Support for Palestine” –

“Our support for Palestine will not stop and will continue through different means,” the leader of Hezbollah also assured, without giving further details.

Hezbollah had opened a front “of support” for Hamas against Israel at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement.

The party previously said it would not stop its attacks on Israel — which have displaced 60,000 people in the north of the country — until the war in Gaza ends.

On the ruins of a church in the village of Derdghaya in southern Lebanon, partially destroyed by an Israeli strike in October, November 29, 2024 © AFP – Mahmoud ZAYYAT

According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,961 people have been killed since October 2023, most since late September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have died in 13 months, according to the authorities.

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