BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 29 (UPI) — Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Friday that his Iran-backed militant group will coordinate with the Lebanese Army to implement the U.S. led cease-fire agreement that ended almost 14 months of devastating conflict with Israel.
Qassem said in a speech broadcast by Hezbollah-run Al Manar television station that Hezbollah faced “an unprecedented aggression” when Israel launched a wide-scale attack on Lebanon, starting with the Sept. 17 highly sophisticated pager explosions against Hezbollah members, the assassination of its long-time leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.
He praised the “historic steadfastness” of the Hezbollah fighters who battled the Israeli forces advancing in south Lebanon and fired rockets into Israel, including Tel Aviv, saying they scored “a big victory.”
“We won because we prevented the enemy from eliminating Hezbollah and the resistance,” Qassem said, adding that Israel “suffered very big losses,” with more Israelis displaced and soldiers killed or wounded.
That, he argued, made Israel reach “a dead end,” pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to justify his acceptance of the cease-fire and stopping the war without achieving his set goals “for he wanted to rebuild and rearm his army.”
The cease-fire agreement, which went into effect Wednesday at 4 a.m. local time, hours after U.S. President Joe Biden announced it, was the result of months of complicated negotiations to achieve a formula that allows a strict implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, backed by U.S. guarantees and an enforced-monitoring committee to deal with violations.
Both Israel and Hezbollah accepted it.
The truce still holds, despite few violations by Israeli forces that fired at Lebanese returning to their villages in south Lebanon, injuring at least two of them, and carrying two airstrikes against Hezbollah targets.
Qassem ignored the Israeli violations during his speech.
However, he emphasized that “a high coordination” will exist to implement the cease-fire agreement with the Lebanese Army, which “will deploy … and carry out the mission of preserving security in Lebanon and the border” with Israel.
Qassem explained that the agreement is about “executive procedures” to apply U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006 to end a Hezbollah-Israel war then, but was never respected by both parties.
Under the deal, the Lebanese Army and security forces will deploy to take control of the border area within 60 days. Hezbollah will not be allowed to rebuild its infrastructure.
Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces during that period, and civilians on both sides of the border will return to their homes and businesses.
Qassem emphasized that the agreement focuses on the southern part of the Litani River, saying that the “resistance has the right to defend” Lebanon and will continue to support the Palestinians “in different ways.”
The new conflict started when Hezbollah opened “a support front” for Gaza in October 2023, exchanging fire with Israel across the border that escalated into a wide-scale war last September.
For 64 days, Israel launched intensive air strikes, killing dozens of Hezbollah top officials and military commanders, destroying its headquarters, missiles launchers and bases.
The relentless Israeli air and ground bombardment led to large destruction of villages, property, hospitals and schools in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in southern and eastern Lebanon.
Nearly 1.2 million people were displaced, while an estimated 3,961 people were killed and 16,520 wounded since October 2023.
