Hezbollah Says it Won't Hand Over Weapons While Israeli Troops Remain in Southern Lebanon

(FILES) Mourners attend the funeral of slain Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut on February 23, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
(FILES) Mourners attend the funeral of slain Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut on February 23, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
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Hezbollah Says it Won't Hand Over Weapons While Israeli Troops Remain in Southern Lebanon

(FILES) Mourners attend the funeral of slain Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut on February 23, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
(FILES) Mourners attend the funeral of slain Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut on February 23, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said on Friday that its fighters will not disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese air space.
Naim Kassem addressed supporters in a speech broadcast on Hezbollah’s television station. Kassem took over Hezbollah after Israeli airstrikes killed longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, his successor Hashem Safieddine and other top Hezbollah figures last year, decimating the group's leadership, The Associated Press said.
Kassem said Hezbollah had implemented its commitments related to the US-brokered ceasefire that halted the fighting in Hezbollah’s latest, 14-month war with Israel.
Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israeli airstrikes have killed scores of people in Lebanon including civilians and Hezbollah members. Israel says it’s targeting Hezbollah holdouts in southern Lebanon.
On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect.
Hezbollah launched its own attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, saying it was doing so to ease the pressure on Gaza by keeping part of the Israeli military busy along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon.
In response, Israeli troops pushed into Lebanon. The 14 months of the Hezbollah-Israel war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and caused destruction that will take $11 billion to rebuild, according to the World Bank.
As part of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull out from parts of southern Lebanon and give up its military positions and weapons south of the Litani River while Israeli forces were to pull back into Israel. The Lebanese army was to take over Hezbollah's positions and guarantee security in the south, along with the UN peacekeeping mission.
Israel withdrew much of its troops from southern Lebanon in February but kept five posts inside Lebanese territory in what Lebanon says is a violation of the ceasefire deal.
Last week, deputy US Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus visited Beirut and called on the Lebanese state to assert its control all over Lebanon — and not only in the south along the border with Israel south of the Litani River.
“We will not allow anyone to remove Hezbollah’s weapons,” Kassem said. “These weapons gave life and freedom to our people."
Kassem spoke hours after two separate Israeli drones killed two people in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it killed two Hezbollah members in the strikes.
“Does anyone expect us to discuss a national defense strategy as warplanes fly over our heads and there is occupation in south Lebanon,” Kassem asked. “These are not discussions. This is surrender. Let Israel withdraw first and stop its flights in the air.”



Ten Wounded, Including a Child, in Israeli Strikes on South Lebanon

FILED - 19 October 2024, Lebanon, Zawtar: Thick Smoke billows from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar, where Israeli forces attacked alleged pro-Iranian Hezbollah positions.Photo: STR/dpa
FILED - 19 October 2024, Lebanon, Zawtar: Thick Smoke billows from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar, where Israeli forces attacked alleged pro-Iranian Hezbollah positions.Photo: STR/dpa
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Ten Wounded, Including a Child, in Israeli Strikes on South Lebanon

FILED - 19 October 2024, Lebanon, Zawtar: Thick Smoke billows from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar, where Israeli forces attacked alleged pro-Iranian Hezbollah positions.Photo: STR/dpa
FILED - 19 October 2024, Lebanon, Zawtar: Thick Smoke billows from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar, where Israeli forces attacked alleged pro-Iranian Hezbollah positions.Photo: STR/dpa

Ten people, including a young child, were injured in two Israeli airstrikes carried out on Sunday in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Monday.

According to a statement made by the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, “nine civilians were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Burj Rahal in the district of Tyre”.

Also, an Israeli airstrike on the town of Zrariyeh in the Sidon district left a child critically wounded.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli military unit crossed into Lebanese territory after midnight, moving from the Khallat Wardeh border area toward the vicinity of Aita al-Shaab. It has taken position there.

Despite a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel that aimed at ending over a year of conflict, Israel continues to target various parts of Lebanon particularly in the south often claiming they target Hezbollah fighters or positions associated with the group.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah agreed to withdraw from areas south of the Litani River - approximately 30 kilometers from the Israeli border - and dismantle its military infrastructure there. In exchange, the Lebanese Army and United Nations peacekeepers (UNIFIL) were to strengthen their presence in the region.

Israel, for its part, was required to withdraw from territories it occupied during the conflict. However, it has maintained control over five strategic highlands, which Lebanon continues to demand be vacated.