(Beirut) Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday he supports Hamas’ position in indirect negotiations with Israel for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, repeating that if an agreement is reached, his party would end its attacks from southern Lebanon.
Since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has been exchanging daily cross-border fire with Israel, raising fears of a larger-scale war.
“What Hamas accepts, we accept […] “and what satisfies Hamas satisfies us,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address in tribute to a commander of the pro-Iranian movement, Mohammed Nasser, killed by the Israeli army in early July.
“Besides, we are not asking them to coordinate with us because the battle is first and foremost their battle,” he added.
PHOTO AL-MANAR, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Indirect negotiations to try to move towards a ceasefire in Gaza are to resume in Qatar in the presence of CIA Director William Burns and Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea.
On Sunday, Hamas said, according to an official, that it was no longer demanding a permanent ceasefire before any negotiations on the release of hostages.
Israel, for its part, says it wants to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed.
In his speech, Hassan Nasrallah reaffirmed that if there is an agreement on a ceasefire, “which we all hope for, we will cease fire without a doubt.”
“Dozens of drones”
In response to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s assertion that Israel “will continue to fight and do whatever is necessary” against Hezbollah, “even if there is a ceasefire” in Gaza, Hassan Nasrallah said that his party would not tolerate “any aggression that the Israeli enemy could carry out against Lebanon in the event of a ceasefire in Gaza, even if it is very unlikely.”
Hezbollah announced three attacks on Wednesday, including an “air offensive with a squadron of explosive drones” against the Yarden military base on the Syrian Golan Heights, annexed by Israel, “targeting the assembly points of its officers and soldiers” in the evening.
The Israeli army announced that a female soldier was lightly injured after “three drones fell in the Beit Hameches area.”
Hezbollah, which has increased its use of explosive drones in recent weeks, said the attack came in retaliation “for the attack and assassination carried out by the Israeli enemy.” […] on the Damascus-Beirut road” the day before.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Tuesday that a former bodyguard of Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in a strike in Syria, on the border with Lebanon, identifying the victim as “Qarnabach.” The party later announced in a statement the death of a fighter with the same surname.
Violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border has left at least 499 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, at least 29 people have been killed, according to authorities.