Hezbollah publicly supports ceasefire efforts in Lebanon for the first time as Israel intensifies its offensive

CNN
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A senior Hezbollah official said on Tuesday that Hezbollah supports efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, marking the first time the group has publicly backed a truce and did not condition it on stopping the war in Gaza.

He said: “We support the political efforts led by (House of Representatives Speaker Nabih) Berri under the slogan of achieving a ceasefire. Deputy Secretary-General Naeem Qassem said: Once the ceasefire is firmly established and can be reached through diplomacy, all other details will be discussed and decisions will be made collaboratively.

Lebanese Hezbollah began firing on Israel on October 8 last year to show solidarity with Hamas, which launched an attack on Israel from Gaza the day before. Hezbollah had previously announced that it would not stop its attacks on Israel until a ceasefire was reached with Hamas in Gaza. However, Israel insisted that Hezbollah separate its conflict with Israel from the ongoing war with Hamas.

In his speech marking the first anniversary of Hezbollah’s intervention in the war, Qassem did not mention a ceasefire in Gaza as a condition for achieving it in Lebanon. This is Qassem’s second speech since Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah late last month. Since then, Israel has conducted limited ground incursions into southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, which has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel.

Nabih Berri, leader of the Shiite Amal Party allied with Hezbollah, was a key figure in negotiations for a ceasefire brokered by Western countries.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib told CNN last week that Nasrallah had agreed to a temporary ceasefire called for by US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and other allies during the UN General Assembly last month. Shortly after, Israel assassinated Nasrallah.

US officials told CNN that the Biden administration is not actively trying to revive the deal and has given up on trying to shape and limit Israeli operations in Lebanon and against Iran rather than ceasing hostilities.

Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, said in an interview with Sky News on Sunday Nasrallah did not agree to the ceasefire and described Bou Habib’s claim as “ridiculous.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message on Tuesday that Israel had “eliminated” Hashem Safi al-Din, Nasrallah’s successor. However, the Israeli military said it was still investigating whether a strike on Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut led to his death.

Netanyahu addressed the Lebanese people directly in the message, urging them to stand up to Hezbollah and “reclaim their country,” threatening them with a Gaza-style war if they did not do so.

“Christians, Druze and Muslims – Sunnis and Shiites alike – you are all suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war in Israel,” Netanyahu said. He continued: “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will bring destruction and suffering similar to what we see in Gaza.”

The Israeli war on Hezbollah led to the deaths of more than 1,400 people in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Lebanese authorities said that more than 1.2 million people have been displaced since the fighting escalated last month.

Despite the reference to ceasefire talks, much of Qassem’s speech on Tuesday carried a defiant tone, emphasizing Hezbollah’s readiness and ability to continue its fight against Israel.

He said: “If the enemy continues its war, the battlefield will be decisive, and the battlefield belongs to us.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired a large barrage of rockets towards the Israeli cities of Haifa and Kiryat, one of the largest rockets on the city since the beginning of the war. The Israeli army said that the missiles were fired from Lebanon in two separate batches. While many of the rockets were intercepted or landed in open areas, according to the army, at least two buildings in Kiryat Yam and Kiryat Motzkin were directly hit.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had expanded its “limited, local and targeted operations” into southwestern Lebanon.