Israel’s ceasefire with Lebanon is “essential, urgently needed and a demand shared by all,” a senior Hezbollah official told NBC News, but Hezbollah won’t comply with Israel’s demand that it disarm “except within a framework tied to a broader national security vision.”
Bilal Lakkiss, a senior member of Hezbollah’s central committee, spoke to NBC News by phone Thursday night hours after Trump announced the ceasefire deal but before it came into effect.
The nascent agreement over the Lebanese-Israel border has raised hopes for a more lasting ceasefire between Israel, the U.S. and Iran as well as negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Lebanon, potentially ending generations of regional wars.
But while Lakkiss said he welcomed such further talks, he credited Hezbollah’s military strength for the Thursday night ceasefire, which he said vindicated Hezbollah’s weapons as essential to defending Lebanese sovereignty.
“The status of weapons in Lebanon has, in fact, gained greater legitimacy, as the ceasefire would not have been achieved without the resilience of the resistance,” said Lakkiss. “In that sense, the strength of the resistance has been a decisive factor in pushing Israel toward a ceasefire.”
The senior Hezbollah official also dismissed the separate, but related, negotiations in Washington between Israel and Lebanon. The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the U.S. met for talks in Washington on Tuesday that were also attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That meeting was the first formal, higher-level contact between Lebanon and Israel since the early 1990s.
But Lakkiss dismissed the meeting as little more than a publicity stunt.
“What is happening … in Washington appears largely symbolic,” he said. “The United States seeking to sponsor negotiations between Lebanon and Israel — is not particularly useful and does not advance matters forward.”
Lakkiss said the Lebanese state, whose security forces are far weaker than Hezbollah, lacks the ability to confront Israel.
“What has the Lebanese state done? It has been unable to do anything,” said Lakkiss. “As long as Israel continues its attacks and the Lebanese state is unable to prevent them, the people will naturally defend themselves. This is the reality of the resistance in Lebanon.”
Lakkiss also warned that Hezbollah, which he referred to as “the resistance,” will return to fighting should the ceasefire collapse — another reason the group will seek to safeguard its weapons, he said.
“If the ceasefire is not sustained, this would mean that the resistance in Lebanon will respond, which in turn would lead to a renewed breakdown of the ceasefire,” he said.
Lakkiss also said that Israel must withdraw from Lebanon.
“Lebanon’s full sovereign rights must be upheld…Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the return of the Lebanese people to their land,” he said, rejecting any proposed buffer zone as “a violation and occupation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”