ByREUTERS

JUNE 4, 2026 15:28

Updated: JUNE 4, 2026 17:48

Hezbollah dismissed a ceasefire framework reached by Lebanese and Israeli officials in talks mediated by Washington, even as Israeli forces pressed ahead with strikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday and signaled they would stay in place.

Later that day, AFP confirmed Hezbollah had notified Lebanese officials of its outright rejection of any truce with Israel.

The United States revealed on Wednesday that Beirut and Jerusalem had consented to a halt in fighting provided Iran-backed Hezbollah stopped shooting and withdrew its fighters from zones near the border in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem branded the talks disgraceful and labeled the Washington statement a plan for the destruction of part of the Lebanese population and the subjugation of everyone else.

"While the occupation persists, resistance operations will go on," he declared in a written release.

An Israeli official countered that Hezbollah played no role in the discussions.

"We are not in talks with Hezbollah," the official said. "Israel, Lebanon, and the United States are coordinating to enact a ceasefire on the basis that Hezbollah will be stripped of arms and southern Lebanon will be cleared of military activity."

"All three parties are aligned for the first time in their resolve to sideline the Iranian-backed Hezbollah network," the official added.

Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel flared again on March 2 when the movement opened fire in solidarity with Tehran amid US-Israeli strikes. Fighting has dragged on despite multiple Washington-brokered pauses since April.

The conflict has complicated broader diplomatic efforts to ease regional tensions. Tehran has insisted that Israeli operations in Lebanon must end before any wider agreement.

Qassem stressed that any truce must cover southern Lebanon, where Israel has established a self-declared buffer zone intended to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah rockets.

Qassem warned that towns in northern Israel would stay vulnerable "as long as our villages remain exposed, shelled, ruined, and our civilians are targeted."

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, which helped create Hezbollah in 1982, stated that the minimum requirement for resistance groups is an Israeli pullback to the lines held before the latest war started and troops moved into the south.

Israel maintains pressure on Hezbollah positions

Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier Thursday that Israel would keep up its strikes and ground activity for now. The military warned residents in the south that operations against Hezbollah sites would continue.

Katz added that Israel would press ahead with dismantling militant infrastructure and retained the right, with US backing, to hit targets in Beirut if Israeli areas came under attack.

Israeli jets carried out multiple airstrikes in southern Lebanon, according to security sources. Lebanon's National News Agency said five people died in strikes on the town of Sohmor. A drone was also reported over Beirut.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the US ceasefire outline as a last chance for a full and lasting truce. Speaking before Qassem's remarks, Aoun said the agreement could take effect within a day if every side signed on, apparently pointing to Hezbollah.

The US State Department statement noted that the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire depended on Hezbollah ending all fire and removing every fighter from the zone between the border and the Litani River.

The statement made no mention of any Israeli withdrawal from the south.

Katz said Israeli troops would hold the buffer zone, including the Beaufort castle area captured over the weekend, and would not allow residents to return.

Israeli operations have displaced around 1.2 million people, including hundreds of thousands from southern Lebanon, Lebanese authorities report. Most of those displaced are Shiite Muslims.

Lebanese army set to oversee test areas

The joint statement said Lebanon and Israel had agreed to speed up the creation of pilot zones where the Lebanese Armed Forces would hold sole control, keeping out all non-state groups.

Lebanese soldiers moved into the south under a November 2024 ceasefire that ended the prior round of Hezbollah-Israel fighting and announced in January that they had secured the strip between the border and the Litani.

The Lebanese government suggested one such zone around Beaufort castle as a test case that could expand, a Lebanese official said.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, and Sunni Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have pushed for Hezbollah's peaceful disarmament over the past year, heightening friction with the movement.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the ceasefire plan a grave error and demanded a cabinet vote.

Ben-Gvir argued that Hezbollah would refuse to pull fighters from south of the Litani and that the Lebanese army could not compel compliance.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism from rivals and some partners who argue he has given up ground by agreeing to the US framework.

A UN peacekeeper in Lebanon died Thursday from injuries after mortar rounds struck his post near Marjayoun in the southeast late the night before, the UN mission UNIFIL reported.

IDF eliminates Hezbollah fighter north of Litani River

The IDF said troops killed a Hezbollah fighter carrying a Kalashnikov rifle north of the Litani River on Thursday.

The soldiers later searched a Hezbollah weapons depot and recovered dozens of arms and pieces of combat gear.

Items recovered included Kalashnikov rifles, shotguns, surface-to-air missiles, ammunition, and grenades.

The IDF also reported that overnight forces struck two militant cells active near Tyre and Shaqra.

Idan Kweller contributed to this report.