Hezbollah Leader Demands Comprehensive Ceasefire and Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon

JAKARTA - Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Thursday demanded a comprehensive ceasefire and Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, while an official from his group confirmed that they rejected the ceasefire announced after talks between the two countries in Washington, United States.

"The ceasefire must be comprehensive, without separation between the south and the whole of Lebanon, and without the Israeli enemy having the freedom to kill," Qassem said in a written message broadcast on the al-Manar television channel, Al Arabiya reported from AFP (4/6).

Previously, Israeli and Lebanese delegations had held a fourth round of US-mediated talks in Washington on Wednesday, agreeing to a ceasefire that depended on a cessation of Hezbollah attacks.

According to a joint statement after the US-led talks in Washington on Wednesday, "the proposed ceasefire depends on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah members from the Southern Litani Sector."

Lebanon's Litani River flows about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.

But a Hezbollah official told AFP on Thursday the group rejected the agreement, which Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had previously described as a "last chance" to reach a comprehensive ceasefire.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the position had been conveyed to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who acts as an intermediary and who "shared this position."

Qassem urged the government to stop "the farce and the insult called direct talks" with Israel and vowed "as long as our villages are not safe - bombed, destroyed, and our people are killed - the (northern Israeli) settlements are also not safe."

Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday morning that his country's army would "at this stage, continue its aerial and ground operations, remain in the security zone and without the return of residents, while continuing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure."

"The Israeli forces retain the freedom of action, with American support, to attack in Beirut in response to the firing on Israeli communities and territories," Katz added.

Qassem himself said that Hezbollah's withdrawal would be the same as "surrender and defeat."

"As long as the aggression continues, we will face it with all our strength," he said.