Hezbollah leader asks Lebanon to cancel Tuesday meeting with Israel

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An image grab taken from Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV shows the Lebanese group’s new leader Naim Qassem during a televised address from an undisclosed location on October 30, 2024. (Photo by Al-Manar / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / HO / AL-MANAR” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

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Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged Lebanon to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington the following day, reiterating his group’s rejection of direct negotiations with its foe.

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“We reject negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity… We call for a historic and heroic stance by cancelling this negotiating meeting,” Qassem, whose Iran-backed group has been at war with Israel since March 2, said in a televised address.

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The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss holding direct negotiations between the two countries.

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Lebanese authorities have stressed that Beirut first wants to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, but Israel has dismissed that prospect, saying it prefers instead to focus on formal peace talks with Lebanon itself, with which it has technically been at war for decades.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that “we want the dismantling of Hezbollah’s weapons, and we want a real peace agreement that will last for generations”.

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To Qassem, “these negotiations are futile and require a Lebanese agreement and consensus”.

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Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million since Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war.

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“We will not surrender,” Qassem said as his fighters faced off with advancing Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

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“We will remain in the field until our last breath.”

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AFP

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