Hezbollah's chief said on Tuesday that direct talks between Lebanon and Israel would bring only "humiliation" for Lebanon and accused authorities of helping Israel, prompting Lebanon's prime minister to hit back.
Lebanon and Israel were holding on Tuesday a fresh round of direct talks in Rome under US sponsorship, the seventh such meeting since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel, which responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion.
"All the direct negotiations will bring Lebanon nothing but shame, humiliation, disappointment and successive concessions," Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a televised address.
He said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun "has not acted as an arbiter, nor as a unifying figure, but has become biased and divisive, which is incompatible with his role and with Lebanon's strength".
The head of the Iran-backed group also accused Lebanese authorities of having "helped Israel instead of helping Lebanon's sovereignty" by continuing with negotiations that he said had handed Israel "political gains".
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam hit back on X, saying "the greatest help to Israel was provided by those who unilaterally drew Lebanon into the adventures of futile wars... and granted it pretexts to attack our country".
"Those who unilaterally take the decision of war and try to continue to seize the state's decision-making, and to tie Lebanon to foreign calculations and axes, ignoring the interests of their community and the Lebanese in general, are not fit to lecture on patriotism, not to mention on sovereignty," Salam added.
"Lebanon has no sovereignty except for the sole independent decision of the state with one army which extends its authority over all its territory," Salam added.
"Shouldn't the systematic destruction of southern villages and towns... be reason for the political authorities to say, 'We don't want dialogue with the Israeli entity'?" Qassem said.
He vowed "to make the utmost effort to provide the means for shelter, repairs and reconstruction", cautioning however that this would require "patience".
Salam instead reaffirmed the state's commitment to end "the Israeli occupation... and secure the conditions for the dignified and safe return of people to their towns and villages", and to rebuild.
