'A backstab to the resistance': Hezbollah demands Lebanon cancel 'futile' Washington talks with Israel

Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem went on television Monday (Apr 13) to urge Lebanon's government to pull out of a planned diplomatic meeting with Israel in Washington scheduled for Tuesday (Apr 1), calling the talks "futile" and demanding what he described as a "historic and heroic stance" from Beirut. "We reject negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity," Qassem said in the televised address, calling on Lebanese officials to cancel the meeting outright.

Why does Hezbollah want Washington talks cancelled?

In a televised address, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, whose Iran-backed group has been at war with Israel since March 2, said that they reject the negotiations and called on Lebanon to take a historic and heroic stance against the "usurping Israeli entity".

This comes as the peace talks between Iran and the United States in Islamabad failed after over 20 hours of talks.

The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are due to sit down in Washington on Tuesday for preliminary discussions about the possibility of direct negotiations between the two countries, a prospect that has divided Lebanese politics sharply. Lebanese authorities have insisted that any formal talks must be preceded by a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war, which has been raging since March 2. Israel has pushed back on that sequencing, saying it would rather skip straight to a broader peace agreement with Lebanon, a country it has technically been at war with for decades.

Qassem also took aim at the Lebanese government directly, accusing Beirut of "backstabbing" Hezbollah by declaring its military activities illegal when the war began. He dismissed suggestions that the Lebanese army could serve as a mechanism for disarming his group. "Israel and the US clearly said they want to strengthen the Lebanese army to disarm and fight Hezbollah," he said. "But the army cannot do that."

These negotiations are futile and require a Lebanese agreement and consensus". Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters had already taken to the streets on Friday and Saturday to protest the planned talks, with some directing their anger personally at Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, accusing him of being a "Zionist."

Fighting continues on the ground

On the ground, the fighting has not paused for the diplomacy. The Israeli army said Monday that its forces had completely encircled Bint Jbeil, a significant southern Lebanese town, while Hezbollah continued to claim attacks on Israeli troops advancing into the area. Israel has said its operations in southern Lebanon are aimed at establishing a security zone along the border. Qassem warned that northern Israeli communities "will not be safe, even if the Israelis were to enter any area of Lebanon."

The human cost of the conflict in Lebanon has been severe. Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced over a million since Hezbollah opened a second front linked to the broader regional war.

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