Hezbollah rejects U.S.-brokered ceasefire as strikes kill 4 in Lebanon

Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Fire as Ceasefire Efforts Falter

Hezbollah rejected the latest U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s government on Thursday, as Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people in Lebanon and a United Nations peacekeeper died in crossfire, underscoring the fragility of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.latimes

Hezbollah Demands Full Withdrawal

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, in a written statement read on television, called the negotiations “absurd, humiliating and insulting,” and said the agreement’s demand that fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would amount to “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals.”latimes

“What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” Kassem said, adding that so long as Lebanese villages “are being bombed and destroyed and our people are killed,” northern Israel “will not be safe.”latimes

The rejection came just a day after Israel and Lebanon’s government announced a new ceasefire framework following a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department in Washington. That deal called for Lebanon’s armed forces to take exclusive control of security zones in the south from which Hezbollah would be banned.reuters

Strikes Continue Despite Diplomatic Push

On Thursday, a Serbian U.N. peacekeeper was killed and two others were wounded when a mortar struck their position near the town of Marjayoun, according to UNIFIL and Serbia’s Defense Ministry. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack without offering evidence.latimes

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that a drone strike killed a motorcyclist in the village of Maaroub and airstrikes on Sohmor in the Bekaa Valley killed three people. The fighting has persisted despite repeated ceasefire announcements since an original 10-day truce took effect on April 16.nytimes

More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon and over 1.2 million displaced since the conflict escalated, according to the Los Angeles Times reporting from Associated Press figures.latimes

Wider War Complicates Diplomacy

The Lebanon front remains entangled with the broader conflict involving Iran. Tehran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on pressing ahead until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.latimes

President Trump, who faced a rare Congressional rebuke over his handling of the situation, told reporters that in the Middle East, “a ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”latimes

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the agreement “the last chance to enter a final and comprehensive ceasefire,” but said implementation depends on responses from Lebanese factions, including Hezbollah. The two sides are set to reconvene for further talks during the week of June 22.reuters