Beirut: Hezbollah officials say they are ready for a ceasefire in Lebanon, rowing back from an oft-repeated promise to keep fighting until Israel halts its offensive against its Iran-backed ally Hamas in Gaza.
Ever since Hezbollah began launching missiles across Lebanon’s border a day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel, Hezbollah officials have consistently said they would not stop until Israel ended the war in Gaza.
But Naim Qassem, the deputy leader of Hezbollah, broke that link in a televised speech on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), even as he promised to continue to stand with Hamas and Palestinians in their battle with Israel.
A demonstrator holds posters of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an anti-Israeli gathering at Felestin (Palestine) Square in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday.Credit: AP
Qassem, now Hezbollah’s top official after its chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike, said he backed efforts by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to secure a truce, without setting a precondition.
“We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire,” Qassem said. “If the enemy [Israel] continues its war, then the battlefield will decide.”
Two days earlier, two lower-ranking Hezbollah officials had also mentioned a Lebanon truce without making a linkage with Gaza.
Hezbollah has not explicitly said it was shifting its position. The group did not comment for this story.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the military had killed the would-be Nasrallah successors.
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