BEIRUT: Zionist entity renewed its strikes on Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported, two days after an agreement was signed by the two countries, which a Hezbollah lawmaker warned would lead to “internal conflict”. The strikes come a day after one person was killed in a Zionist strike on the south, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, with the military saying it targeted Hezbollah members near its self-proclaimed “security zone”, which reaches 10 kilometres (6 miles) into Lebanon.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported several strikes on Sunday. The Zionist army said a soldier “fell in combat” in southern Lebanon. In a later statement, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir approved plans for “continued operations in the security zone, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement”.
Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire aimed at Zionist entity to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Zionists strikes, and Zionist responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday that his country “would assume its responsibilities” in implementing the framework agreement, which was signed in Washington on Friday after five rounds of talks.
The deal aims to pave the way for peace between Zionist and Lebanon, who have officially been at war for decades, though Zionist’s many conflicts across its northern border have largely been with non-state actors. The agreement makes any Zionist withdrawal from occupied Lebanese land conditional on Beirut disarming Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “historic” for his country.
‘Internal conflict’
Hezbollah strongly opposed the talks with Zionists from the start and rejects the agreement, with leader Naim Qassem saying on Saturday that the group would treat the deal as “null and void” and describing it as “a surrender of sovereignty”. His supporters took to the streets on Friday evening to protest the framework. An AFP correspondent saw signs on Sunday morning that read “Lebanon first” being burned along Beirut’s airport road, which borders the city’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, after previous billboards saying “thank you Iran” were removed.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said on Sunday that “the agreement of humiliation and disgrace signed by the authorities will never see the light of day”. He added that what “the authorities have done amounts to sedition aimed at pushing the country into chaos and shifting the conflict from one with the enemy to an internal conflict”. Hezbollah repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to link themselves to Iran’s negotiations to end its war with the US, while Tehran has insisted any ceasefire for the Middle East war should include Lebanon. — AFP
In a phone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri, Iranian parliament speaker and head of Tehran’s negotiating delegation Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that “our goal is to end the war in Lebanon, return the refugees to their homes and remove the occupation and the withdrawal of the Zionist regime from the Lebanese territory, and we are seriously pursuing this issue”. — AFP
