Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qasem on Monday rejected the extension of the ceasefire between the Lebanese terrorist group and Israel, announced the day before by the United States, and demanded the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all of southern Lebanon.
"We do not accept the extension of the Israeli withdrawal deadline even for one day," he said in a televised speech on the Lebanese channel Al Manar, the voice of the Shiite group Hezbollah, where he stated that “Israel must withdraw after 60 days” of the initially agreed truce.
Israel has withdrawn from most of the eastern sector, but remains present in various points in the western part of the south of the country., despite the fact that the truce agreement provided for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and the retreat of Hezbollah to the north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers north of the border with Israel.
On the other hand, Qasem blamed the United Nations and the United States for "any repercussions arising from the delay in the Israeli withdrawal, which yesterday left 24 dead and 124 wounded among people trying to return to their occupied towns in southern Lebanon.
Qasem reiterated that Hezbollah is showing patience despite Israel's new breaches of the truce, and threatened, saying that “Resistance is a political, national and humanitarian option to confront the occupation and liberate the occupied land.”
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article.