Hezbollah received a message from Iran instructing it not to comply with a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel because of complications surrounding an Iranian-U.S. arrangement aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a Lebanese security source told Alhurra.
The source said the message was delivered after efforts to secure an agreement between Tehran and Washington stalled.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected the ceasefire deal announced on Wednesday at the conclusion of the fourth round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, which took place in Washington.
Israel continued its strikes on southern Lebanon on Thursday. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would neither withdraw from the area nor halt military operations in Lebanon.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that the ceasefire would take effect within 24 hours of receiving approval from all concerned parties. Qassem, however, insisted that “the resistance will continue.”
The commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that the “minimum demands of the resistance” in Lebanon include an Israeli withdrawal to positions held before the outbreak of the war.
In a separate statement, the Revolutionary Guard said that its “basic condition” for accepting a ceasefire in the regional conflict is a halt to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.
The statement added that Israel must cease its attacks in Lebanon, evacuate areas under its control, and withdraw beyond the internationally recognized border.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified again on March 2, when the group launched a number of rockets into Israel in what it described as an act of solidarity with Tehran.
Efforts to implement the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel come after U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged attacks in the Gulf region in recent days, in one of the most intense waves of fighting since April.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the parties were working to separate the issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz from the conflict in Lebanon.
Iran and the United States have indicated progress toward a preliminary interim agreement aimed at ending the war and reopening the strategic waterway. However, the two sides have yet to sign the deal, delaying more complex negotiations until a later stage.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
