BEIRUT — Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that the Iran-backed Lebanese movement was not concerned with the results of Israel's election, vowing to continue its "resistance" against Israel no matter who governs there, Arab News reported.
Source: Arab News via Europe Says — Hezbollah says it does not care who governs Israel
"We do not concern ourselves with who governs Israel, but let it be perfectly clear that it cannot continue its occupation and must leave our land," Qassem said in a written statement. "The resistance will continue… and will stand up to the aggression directed against it and against Lebanon, and there is no room to discuss the disarmament" of Hezbollah "as long as the occupation persists and its aggression continues," he added.
Qassem issued the statement a day after Israelis voted, as the count showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc slightly ahead of the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot but still short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Awaaz Punjab has reported the count separately as it has developed.
The June framework Hezbollah is rejecting
In June, Lebanese and Israeli authorities signed a framework agreement that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the area, Arab News noted. Israel continues to carry out sporadic strikes and demolitions in and around the territory it occupies, while Hezbollah refuses to submit to government plans to disarm it.
Source: Arab News via Europe Says — Hezbollah says it does not care who governs Israel
Press TV, reporting the same statement, said Qassem described the US-sponsored framework as illegitimate and "null and void", said it violated Lebanon's constitution, and reiterated his call for Israeli forces to withdraw from Lebanese territory and for the Lebanese army to deploy south of the Litani River. He warned, in Press TV's account, that "surrender and concessions" would leave Lebanon with nothing.
The group, which once dominated political life in Lebanon, has been weakened by two wars it waged against Israel since 2023, Arab News noted. Qassem's statement leaves the framework's central bargain — withdrawal in exchange for disarmament — without the agreement of the armed group it most directly concerns, and keeps pressure on Lebanon's government, which has committed to the army deploying in the south.