Hezbollah said it supported efforts to secure a ceasefire with Israel as the IDF continued to target its top leadership and the two armies sharply increased their bombardments.
“After the issue of a ceasefire takes shape, and once diplomacy can achieve it, all of the other details can be discussed and decisions can be taken,” Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Tuesday. “If the enemy [Israel] continues its war, then the battlefield will decide.”
Qassem mentioned in particular the efforts of Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to restore calm.
“We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire,” the deputy leader said in his 30-minute televised address.
It was not clear whether this signaled any change in stance, after a year in which the group has said it is fighting to support both Hamas and the Palestinian people in their war with Israel and would not stop without a ceasefire in Gaza.
Qassem says the conflict with Israel was a war about who cries first
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller clarified that Israel has not accepted a ceasefire. The word ceasefire was only meaningful, he explained, if it included an agreement for Hezbollah to pull away from Israel’s northern border and back to the Litani River, as set out under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that detailed the ceasefire terms ending the Second Lebanon War.
“Obviously, we don’t trust Hezbollah,” Miller said. “But you look at what Hezbollah said in 2006 when 1701 was adopted by the UN Security Council... that they would implement 1701 – and they blew through all of their commitments.
“So there is an obvious lack of faith in Hezbollah’s ability to do what it said in 2006 and do what it’s saying it would do now, which is agree to an actual ceasefire that would allow Israeli civilians to return home and allow Lebanese civilians to return home,” the State Department spokesperson said.
Qassem’s statement about a ceasefire, Miller said, shows that Israel has been successful in weakening the group’s military power.
For a year Hezbollah wouldn’t talk about a ceasefire and now that it’s “on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire. I think it’s not surprising given the situation they find themselves in,” he said.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, Qassem said the conflict with Israel was a war about who cries first, and Hezbollah would not be the first to cry. The group’s capabilities were intact despite “painful blows” from Israel.
“Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance’s missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are fine,” he said.
His televised address was shown on the same day that Israel announced it had killed Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official who was set to replace the Lebanese-based terrorist group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel assassinated Nasrallah at the end of September just two days after the United States and France had proposed a 21-day ceasefire to allow an opportunity for a diplomatic resolution to the year-long IDF-Hezbollah war along Israel’s border just as Israel increased the level of its military activity against it.
The assassination and the expansion of the IDF-Hezbollah war placed those efforts on the back burner even as the international community and US President Joe Biden continued to call for diplomacy.
The United States clarified Tuesday that it sought the“right time” for such a ceasefire agreement.
“We’re going to be having regular consultations with the Israelis, with the Lebanese, and others regarding the right moment to — to press for such an agreement,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.
“We are in regular conversations” with the Israelis and the Lebanese “on this particular issue,” she said. “We need to have some space, some diplomatic dialogue in order to get there.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an English-language video in which he appealed to the Lebanese people to rise up against Hezbollah, as he confirmed that Israel had killed Safieddine, who has not been seen since October 3.
“We have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities; we took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement,” Netanyahu stated.
“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” he stressed in an unusual English language video.
The prime minister called on the Lebanese people to save their country by ousting the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah, a non-state actor that he explained had destroyed Lebanon, which had once been known as the “Pearl” of the Middle East.
“So, what happened to Lebanon? A gang of tyrants and terrorists destroyed it. That’s what happened,” he said.
“Lebanon was once known for its tolerance, for its beauty; today, it’s a place of chaos, a place of war,” Netanyahu stated.
“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering as we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said.
“I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end; free your country from Hezbollah so that your country can prosper again so that future generations of Lebanese and Israeli children will know neither war nor bloodshed, but will finally live together in peace.”
Netanyahu spoke as Israel has significantly expanded the scope of its military activity against Hezbollah in Lebanon in recent weeks.
France and Qatar delivered urgent humanitarian aid to Lebanon on Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, as Paris pushed for broader humanitarian efforts and a ceasefire in the country.
“If we don’t do anything, then Lebanon tomorrow could resemble what Syria has become,” Barrot told lawmakers in parliament: “a hub of instability for smuggling, terrorism and a point of departure for a large migration of civilians seeking refuge in Europe.”
French and Qatari military planes delivered some 27 metric tons of medicines and basic necessities, including blankets and hygiene kits, diplomatic sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The French Foreign Minister called on both Israel and Hezbollah to accept the 21-day ceasefire proposal to “give peace and negotiations a chance to guarantee the sovereignty of Lebanon and security for Israel.”
France is also working to put together a conference on Lebanon soon that will center around three pillars: humanitarian aid, reinforcing the Lebanese army, and discussing the ongoing political vacuum in the country, Barrot said.
Reuters contributed to this report.