Leaders confirmed Hezbollah Consistently, cross-border hostilities will not stop until they end Israel The war is on Gaza.
The group began firing rockets at Israel a day after its leaders attacked agitation On Israel on October 7 last year.
but Naeem QassemHezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, broke that link in a televised speech on Tuesday despite pledging to continue supporting Hamas and the Palestinians in their battle against Israel.
Qassem said that he supports the efforts of the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih BerriTo reach a truce, without setting preconditions.
Qassem is now the highest official in Hezbollah after the killing of the Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah In an Israeli raid.
Qassem added, “We support the political movement led by Berri, whose basic title is a ceasefire. If the enemy continues its war, the field will be decided, and we are the people of the field and we will not beg for a solution.”
Two days ago, two lower-ranking leaders in Hezbollah spoke about a truce in Lebanon without linking it to Gaza.
Hezbollah did not explicitly announce a change in its position, and the group did not comment on the Reuters report.
In an interview with Reuters, Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said that the movement’s members are still “confident of Hezbollah’s position on linking any agreement to a halt.” The war in Gaza“, citing previous statements by Hezbollah.
But a Lebanese government official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that Hezbollah changed its position due to a range of pressures, including the mass exodus of individuals from key electoral districts where the group’s supporters live. South Lebanon And the southern suburb of Beirut.
The official explained that the decision also came due to Israel’s intensification of its ground campaign and the objection of some parties Lebanese politics On Hezbollah’s position.
In the past few days, senior lawmakers from other sects in the Lebanese political scene have called for a resolution to end the fighting that does not link Lebanon’s future to the Gaza war.
On Monday, the former head of the Progressive Socialist Party said Walid Jumblatt“We will not link our fate to the fate of Gaza.”
As for the Lebanese politician Suleiman Franjieh The head of the Marada Movement said on Monday that the “priority” is to stop the Israeli attack, stressing that “we must emerge united in Lebanon, and most importantly, Lebanon will emerge victorious.”
Before these comments, there were indications from other leaders that Hezbollah might change its position.
During an interview with Iraqi official television on Sunday, Mahmoud Qamati, a leader in Hezbollah, said that the group would be ready to begin exploring political solutions and that they would “come after stopping the Zionist aggression against Lebanon,” again without mentioning Gaza.
According to Reuters, diplomats noticed this shift, stressing that Hezbollah may have been too late in creating diplomatic momentum.
Israel intensified its attack by sending ground forces to new areas across the border between Israel and Lebanon on Tuesday, in addition to continuing to launch air strikes on… Beirut And other places.
Reuters quoted a senior Western diplomat as saying that there are no signs of a ceasefire on the horizon, and that the position expressed by Lebanese officials has “developed” from their previous position, which focused strictly on a ceasefire in Gaza when bombs began falling on Beirut.
For his part, Muhannad Al-Haj Ali, an expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said that Israel was able to have the upper hand by intensifying pressure on Hezbollah militarily.
He pointed out that “Hezbollah is playing a political game, but this is not enough for the Israelis. It does not work that way.”
