Naim Qassem, the head of Iran-backed Hezbollah, has rejected the landmark June framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon — and vowed his group will not disarm.
In a televised address broadcast on Al-Manar on Saturday, Qassem dismissed the deal struck in late June, which calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament and a phased Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, as “illegitimate, unlawful, humiliating, destructive to Lebanese sovereignty.” He rejected the proposed pilot-zone deployment of the Lebanese army and flatly refused any verification mechanism.
“We do not agree to the ‘pilot zones’ or to what comes from them,” Qassem said. “We are against the framework agreement and call for its downfall.”
The words carry weight. Nearly six months ago, on March 2, Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war with a direct attack on Israel. Israel responded with mass strikes and a ground operation that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people. The June framework was meant to close that chapter with a US-brokered deal — but Hezbollah’s leadership has consistently refused to treat it as binding.
A new round of talks is scheduled for early September. Israel and Lebanon have been negotiating through US channels since the fighting escalated. The framework, which includes a gradual Israeli military pullback in exchange for Hezbollah disarming and the Lebanese state asserting control over its own territory, represents the most concrete peace architecture in the region since the November 2024 ceasefire that briefly paused a previous round of fighting.
Qassem made one concession: Hezbollah will hold to the November 2024 ceasefire. “We will keep our heads high and we will not surrender,” he vowed. The distinction — honoring an older understanding while rejecting the newer one — is deliberate. It positions Hezbollah as a guardian of the previous deal while delegitimizing the very agreement that could end the war in Lebanon.
For Beirut, the problem is that the framework requires the Lebanese army to deploy into territory Hezbollah has held for decades. Without that deployment, the pilot zones remain paper. And without the pilot zones, there is no mechanism for the Israeli pullback. The deal is a chain, and Hezbollah has just cut one of the most load-bearing links.