The deputy leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, says Israel is “not in a position” to impose its preferences over the group’s presence in the border area while its attacks in Gaza rages.
The Israel-Lebanon border has been rocked by escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Iran-backed Hezbollah, since Israel’s attacks on Gaza began after the October 7 Hamas attacks, raising fears of a broader conflict.
The army has evacuated thousands of civilians from the border area, and Israel has been pushing for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres north of the frontier.
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Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem says Israel is putting forward proposals and “trying to show that it has options” to help return displaced Israeli residents and push Hezbollah from the border area. He added that Israel must first stop the Gaza war in order for the war in Lebanon to stop.
Since the cross-border hostilities began, more than 160 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants, including more than 20 civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, at least five civilians and nine soldiers have been killed, according to the military.
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