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Hezbollah rejects renewed ceasefire agreed by Israel and Lebanon
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It comes after Israel and Lebanon announced a renewal of their fragile ceasefire with the creation of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon in which Hezbollah operatives would be banned.In a joint statement released on Wednesday by the US State Department, the three countries said the deal was "contingent on a complete cessation" of fire by Hezbollah.But responding on Thursday, the leader of Hezbollah - which was not part of the talks - said the "supposed ceasefire", interpreted as Hezbollah halting fire and withdrawing fighters from the southern front with Israel, amounted to surrender and would fulfil Israel's objectives.The mood was similar on the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs - a stronghold of Hezbollah, also known as Dahieh - with a storekeeper expressing doubts about the agreement.Sami, who has run his business there for 25 years, told the BBC: "You cannot have a ceasefire from one side, it's going to be an all side or no ceasefire."There had been strikes in Lebanon on Thursday, he said. If this was supposed to be a truce, what did that make it?"This is surrender. This is not a peace agreement. This is a surrender agreement," he added.Across the road, Hadi, whose family store has been around for 35 years, said he saw no hope - and that this was not a new feeling."My generation, my dad's generation, my grandpa's generation, they didn't see anything of hope from these people - not necessarily the Israeli people. You can say the Israeli government," he said.The agreement between Israel and Lebanon, reached after a fourth round of US-mediated talks in Washington, is contingent on the "evacuation of all [Hezbollah] operatives" from an area between the Israeli border and the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) to the north, which is currently occupied by Israeli ground forces.According to the deal, the US would help guide the creation of "pilot zones in which the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors".It did not include any maps to indicate where the pilot zones would be located, or any explanation of how they might work in practice.The agreement followed a partial ceasefire announced on Monday, which Lebanon said would see Israel refrain from bombing the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in exchange for Hezbollah not attacking Israel.The two countries' representatives will meet again on 22 June to hold further talks "with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement".By sitting down to rare talks with Israel, Lebanon's government may have hoped Hezbollah would simply be swept along, and find it hard to be the ones saying no to peace.The US - which was brokering the talks - will have hoped for a boost to its efforts to strike a peace deal with Iran, which insists any agreement must include peace in Lebanon too.But while a majority of Lebanon's population do not support Hezbollah, there is not great enthusiasm for Israel's invasion either. And in rejecting the deal outright, the militant group clearly sees political advantage in portraying itself as the only force capable of resisting Israel and fighting on.Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militia, political party and social movement, is Lebanon's most powerful group and, with support from Iran, has built an armed force more formidable than the Lebanese army and has fought a series of conflicts with Israel. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel and many other countries, including the UK and US.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the ceasefire "could be imple
Site search22 minutes agoThe US House of Representatives passed a measure that seeks to halt President Donald Trump from further military action in Iran.The 215-208 vote was successful after four Republicans joined Democrats in a rare public show of disapproval of the war, which began in February. This is the fourth attempt by the House to rein in Trump's war powers, which critics say lack congressional approval.Despite a ceasefire agreement, both the US and Iran have exchanged strikes in recent days. Ahead of the vote, Trump again asserted that negotiations to end the war are going "very well" and could be finalised this weekend.The House resolution still needs approval from the Republican-controlled US Senate.Republicans Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tom Barrett, and Warren Davidson joined a united front from Democrats to pass Wednesday's resolution. Democrat Jared Golden of Maine, who had previously voted against similar measures, backed the measure.The Senate has passed a similar resolution in May, but will need to take up this version advanced by the House. Even if it were successful in the Senate, the measure is unlikely to fully curb military action against Iran.Trump could veto the measure, which would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to nullify.
9 minutes agoJeremy BowenInternational editorGetty ImagesTalks between Iran and the US continue but Tehran has publicly refused to cede groundThe United States and Iran have both signalled that they would prefer not to go back to the war that has been on hold since the ceasefire was announced on 8 April.Neither side has allowed the steady drumbeat of military exchanges between them to end the talks being mediated by Pakistan, Qatar and others.The US still has powerful naval and air forces within striking distance of Iran. It is safe to assume that the Iranian regime will have kept its forces on high alert and will be using the ceasefire to re-organise and repair damage done by the US and Israel.Armed tension in the area in and around the Gulf opens up a clear risk for both sides of miscalculation and misperception. The US is trying to keep the pressure on the Tehran regime to make concessions by demonstrating that they are close by and capable of causing great damage. The Iranians are reminding the US that their determination to resist is undiminished and, if necessary, they will attack American bases and the wider infrastructure of the Arab gulf.The first objectives on what would be a long and perhaps unreachable road to a wider deal between the US and Iran is a continuation of the ceasefire and an agreement on a "memorandum of understanding" on the agenda of more talks between them.Getting to that is proving difficult. Israel's declaration that its bombers would return to Beirut has narrowed down Donald Trump's options even more.Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not worry if his renewed offensive in Lebanon makes an American deal with Iran harder to get. He didn't want the ceasefire with the Tehran regime in the first place. As far as he's concerned, any deal between America and Iran is a bad deal.The Iranians continue to support Hezbollah, their ally and proxy in Lebanon.They have indicated that a wider deal with the US will have to include an end to the Israeli offensive. President Trump seems, for now, to be trying to restrain Israel.As for the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian regime will require a price, perhaps in the form of sanctions relief or unfrozen assets to reopen the Strait, which looks to be a prerequisite for serious negotiations.Only a trickle of ships is getting through what had been a vital and busy waterway. Iran closed it after it was attacked by the US and Israel on 28 February. ReutersShipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has ground almost to a halt Saudi Arabia is piping some oil to its Red Sea ports, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a pipeline to terminals on its small patch of coast that faces the Gulf of Oman, beyond the Strait of Hormuz. But the rest of the world has still lost around 20% of its usual supply of oil and gas, as well as other vital exports.Keeping the Strait closed spells disaster for much of the world economy. The US no longer depends on Gulf oil, but petrol prices in America are still set by the global oil market.Trump is in a bind. He is enmeshed in the consequences of the gross blunder he made by going to war assuming an easy victory. The US president and his close ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel fatally underestimated the degree to which the Islamic regime was prepared to resist and ride out their attacks.Trump has no easy way out and the Iranian regime wants to keep it that way.He needs to get the Strait reopened. The war against Iran is deeply unpopular in the US and re-escalating it will turn even more Americans against it.Trump's problem is that the concessions Iran will require to reopen the Strait are opposed by hawks in his own Republican Party and by his own desire to parade a victory. The US president is deeply allergic to any adverse comparison between any deal he makes with Iran, even an arrangement to extend the ceasefire for more talks, and the nuclear deal made under Barack Obama in 2015. Trump condemned it and in his first
NewsFeedIranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei told state media that a proposed agreement with the US “has not been finalised,” pushing back on US President Donald Trump’s claim that his administration was making a “final determination” on a potential deal with Iran.Published On 29 May 2026
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