Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Israel-Lebanon deal
· RTE.ieHezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a US-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel on Saturday a day after it was signed, describing it as a surrender to Israel.
In the latest example of ongoing hostilities despite repeated ceasefires and agreements, Israel launched a drone strike in Lebanon's south today.
More than a million Lebanese have been driven from their homes by a conflict that has run in parallel with the wider Iran war. Hezbollah and Iran say Washington pledged to end hostilities in Lebanon as part of its memorandum of understanding signed two weeks ago to end the wider war.
But Israeli forces would be permitted to remain in an expanded security zone for the time being.
In a statement, Mr Qassem called it "null and void", and accused the Lebanese government of making unilateral concessions and undermining Lebanon's sovereignty.
He criticised provisions linking Israel's withdrawal to Hezbollah's disarmament, saying they effectively legitimised Israel's military presence and crossed "all red lines".
The group would continue its armed resistance, he added: "We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the agreement as "a blow to Iran and Hezbollah".
The agreement, which was signed in Washington yesterday after five rounds of talks and aims to pave the way to peace between the neighbours, includes plans to disarm Hezbollah.
Mr Netanyahu, speaking in a televised briefing, said both the US and Lebanon "have recognised Israel's right to maintain a security zone inside Lebanon for as long as it remains necessary to safeguard our security".
The deal has drawn criticism from within Israel, with far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denouncing it and saying only Israeli forces were capable of disarming Hezbollah.
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on 2 March when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and an invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops occupy swathes of territory and have been carrying out extensive demolitions of homes and other buildings.
Iran insists any deal to end the broader war must include Lebanon, while the Lebanese government has repeatedly tried to separate the negotiating tracks.
Mr Katz said Israel would use "great force" against Iran if it "tries to attack Israel to prevent the implementation of the agreement" with Lebanon.
Hezbollah has opposed the direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, which have been ongoing since April.
A 17 April ceasefire failed to stop the fighting, but the violence has decreased since the US and Iran reached their memorandum of understanding last week.
The Israeli military said that it had targeted "suspected terrorists" who posed a threat to its soldiers in southern Lebanon, and Lebanese state media reported strikes in the south.
The health ministry later reported at least one person killed and two wounded.
According to the text of the deal shared by the US State Department, Lebanon and Israel, officially at war for decades, expressed their intent to "conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes, and to therewith formally conclude any state of war between them".
The agreement sets up a process during which Lebanon's military is due to "restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups".
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Israeli drone strike kills Palestinian siblings in a Gaza tent camp
An Israeli drone strike today killed two Palestinian siblings, including a 15-year-old girl, in southern Gaza and wounded at least seven others, according to Nasser hospital, where the casualties were taken.
The strike targeted tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the sprawling camp of Muwasi, killing 15-year-old Islam Moussa and her 30-year-old brother Abdullah Moussa.
The Israeli military acknowledged it had struck the area of Muwasi, saying it had targeted a Hamas militant but did not immediately provide more information.
In the hospital's courtyard, relatives wept over the bodies covered in white burial shrouds.
Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has killed more than 1,030 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government.
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