Hezbollah Rejects U.S.-Brokered Lebanon-Israel Security Deal as Israel Continues Strikes

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Saturday rejected the U.S.-brokered security framework agreed between Lebanon and Israel a day earlier, calling it a surrender to Israel and declaring the deal invalid.

His remarks came as hostilities persisted despite repeated ceasefires and diplomatic efforts, with Israel carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday. More than one million Lebanese have been displaced by the conflict, which has unfolded alongside the broader Iran war. Hezbollah and Iran have argued that Washington had committed to ending fighting in Lebanon under a memorandum of understanding signed two weeks earlier to conclude the wider conflict.

The agreement signed on Friday outlines a phased Israeli withdrawal from parts of southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army. However, Israeli forces would be allowed to remain temporarily in an expanded security zone.

In a statement, Qassem described the agreement as "null and void", accusing the Lebanese government of making unilateral concessions and compromising national sovereignty. He also objected to provisions tying Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament, saying the terms effectively legitimised Israel’s military presence and crossed "all red lines".

Qassem said Hezbollah would maintain its armed resistance, adding: "We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it."

Opposition to the agreement extended beyond Hezbollah. With hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese — predominantly Shi’ite Muslims — still unable to return to Israeli-controlled areas, criticism spread more broadly within the community. The Amal movement, led by parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, denounced the deal as unbalanced and said it would entrench conditions favouring Israel.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz welcomed the framework, saying it allows Israel to retain control of a designated security zone in Lebanon and prevents displaced residents from returning. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech on Saturday, displayed a map of two “pilot zones” that Israel had agreed to eventually transfer to the Lebanese army. One zone lay entirely outside territory currently occupied by Israeli forces, while the other bordered the expanded area Israel announced last week.

Lebanon’s state news agency later reported that an Israeli drone struck Nabatieh al-Fawqa, an area outside the security zone shown on Israel’s published map. The Israeli military confirmed the strike to Reuters and said it used a drone because it had no troops operating nearby. It said the target was an individual posing a threat to its forces but provided no further details or evidence.

Qassem said the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding reached earlier this month — which he said guarantees Lebanon’s territorial integrity — should form the basis for ending the conflict rather than Friday’s agreement brokered by Washington.

(Reuters reported)