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Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Monday rejected planned direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, calling them “out of the question” and saying the group would continue to confront Israeli “aggression.”
Qassem said Hezbollah would not give up its weapons and would continue what he described as “defensive resistance” for Lebanon and its people.
“We categorically reject direct negotiations with Israel,” Qassem said, warning Lebanese authorities that such talks would not benefit Lebanon or themselves.
He called on officials to “back down from their grave sin,” saying direct talks would put Lebanon “in a spiral of instability.”
“These direct negotiations and their outcomes are as if they do not exist for us, and they do not concern us in the slightest,” he added.
Qassem also urged the Lebanese government to stop direct negotiations and instead pursue indirect talks, calling for an “internal dialogue” that prioritizes Lebanon’s interests without “succumbing to Israeli and foreign dictates.”
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Qassem outlined conditions that must be met before any direct talks could take place, including “stopping the aggression on land, sea and air, the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories; the release of prisoners; the return of the people to all their villages and towns and reconstruction.”
He said Hezbollah would not disarm, arguing that the battlefield had shown the group’s readiness for confrontation.
“We will not give up weapons, and the defense and the field have proven our readiness for confrontation,” he said.
He added that Hezbollah would continue its resistance and “cannot be defeated.”
“No matter how much the enemy threatens, we will not back down, we will not bow down, and we will not be defeated,” Qassem said.
Qassem said a ceasefire would not have been possible without Iran’s stance in talks held in Pakistan.
He also said Israel, with U.S. support, had sought to end Hezbollah since launching a campaign of airstrikes across Lebanon on Sept. 23, 2024, but had failed.
“The enemy has reached a dead end; this resistance is continuous, strong and cannot be defeated,” he said.
Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of making an “unnecessary and gratuitous concession” and called on them to reverse decisions that, he said, criminalize the resistance and its public base.
He said authorities should pursue dialogue that places Lebanon’s interests “above all consideration.”
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