Hezbollah calls on Lebanese government to cancel direct talks with Israel

Hezbollah called on the Lebanese government to cancel direct talks with Israel ahead of a planned meeting in Washington on Tuesday.

"The resistance rejects the futile negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity," Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Monday in a televised speech.

Qassem stressed that the group "will not surrender, and the final word will be decided on the battlefield."

"Israel clearly states that the goal of these negotiations is to disarm Hezbollah, as (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu repeatedly states. So how can you go to negotiations whose objective is already clear?

"We will not rest, stop or surrender. Instead, we will let the battlefield speak for itself," he added.

Qassem urged the Lebanese government to take "a historic and heroic stance by canceling the negotiating meeting."

Lebanese and Israeli government envoys are set to meet in Washington on Tuesday for negotiations mediated by the US aimed at securing a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel and launching direct talks.

According to media reports, the American delegation will be led by US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, with Israel represented by its Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon by Ambassador Nada Hamadeh-Moawad.

Israeli assaults since March 2 have killed at least 2,089 people and injured 6,762, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel occupies areas in southern Lebanon, some for decades and others since the previous conflict between October 2023 and November the following year.