'Will not accept': Hezbollah vows to breach Israel’s ‘Yellow Line’ and rejects disarmament

In a defiant stance that threatens the stability of the current regional ceasefire, senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah declared on Monday (Apr 20) that the group is committed to dismantling the Yellow Line buffer zone established by Israel in southern Lebanon. Speaking in an exclusive interview with news agency AFP, Fadlallah emphasised that the movement remains militarily intact and will not succumb to international or domestic pressure to disarm.

The Yellow Line is a strategic defensive perimeter recently demarcated by the Israeli military following the ‘39-day war’ and has become a new flashpoint in the territorial dispute. Israel describes the zone as a necessary buffer to prevent cross-border incursions, but Hezbollah views it as an illegal occupation of Lebanese sovereignty. "We will bring down this Yellow Line through the resistance," Fadlallah told AFP. "The attempt by the Israeli army to establish a buffer zone, under the title of a defensive line, a yellow line, a green line, or a red line, all these lines will be broken. We will not accept any of them."

The MP’s comments signal a potential return to hostilities if Israeli forces remain entrenched in these designated zones. While Fadlallah noted that the group "wants the ceasefire to continue", he conditioned that peace on a total Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese soil.

The interview also addressed the growing chorus of voices, both within the Lebanese parliament and among Western powers, calling for the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, which mandates the disarmament of non-state actors. Fadlallah was unequivocal in his dismissal of these demands.

"No one in Lebanon or abroad will be able to disarm the resistance," he vowed, framing Hezbollah’s arsenal as the country’s primary defence against Israeli aggression.