Hezbollah Leader Naim Qassem in a defiant speech on Wednesday (Nov 20) rejected Israel’s conditions for a ceasefire in Lebanon, asserting that Israel “cannot impose its conditions”.
The Hezbollah leader’s statement comes as US envoy Amos Hochstein headed to Israel to try to negotiate an end to the war.
Qassem, in his address, asserted, “Israel cannot defeat us and cannot impose its conditions on us.”
He added that his group was seeking a “complete and comprehensive end to the aggression” and “the preservation of Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
Qassem also vowed that Hezbollah will respond to the recent deadly Israeli air strikes on Beirut with an attack on “central Tel Aviv”, Israel’s densely populated commercial hub.
Israel has ‘freedom to act’ against Hezbollah
In a near-simultaneous statement to Qassem’s, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that any ceasefire deal must ensure that Israel still has the “freedom to act” against the militant group Hezbollah.
Hochstein’s mediation efforts
US mediator Amos Hochstein, as per reports, announced plans to travel to Israel after discussions in Beirut aimed at brokering a ceasefire.
Before leaving for Israel, he met with Lebanon’s Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on Hezbollah’s behalf.
Hochstein expressed cautious optimism and said Wednesday’s meeting “made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can”.
Previously, on Tuesday (Nov 19) he said that an end to the war was “within our grasp”.
The escalating conflict has had devastating consequences, with over 3,500 deaths reported in Lebanon since September, including 200 children. In Gaza, where the war initially began, the death toll from the resulting war has reached 43,985 people, a majority of them civilians.
(With inputs from agencies)
