Through incitement and protests, Hezbollah seeks to obstruct Lebanon–Israel negotiations

At the call of its Secretary-General and through demonstrations by its supporters, the Lebanese Hezbollah is attempting to derail the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations scheduled to take place in the United States on Tuesday.

On Monday, Hezbollah called for the cancellation of the talks planned for Tuesday between Lebanon and Israel, describing such discussions as “absurd,” according to its Secretary-General Naïm Qassem.

Israel and Lebanon are set to hold ambassador-level talks in Washington on Tuesday at the U.S. Department of State, marking the first discussions at this level in decades.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters demonstrated on Friday and Saturday in Beirut to denounce the anticipated talks and verbally attacked Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

Lebanese authorities stated that their priority remains achieving a ceasefire in the war that erupted between the Hebrew state and Hezbollah starting on March 2. Israel, however, did not mention a ceasefire, and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he seeks to “dismantle Hezbollah’s weapons” and reach a peace agreement “lasting for generations.”

The war broke out after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel, saying it was in retaliation for the assassination of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Since then, Israeli strikes have killed 2,089 people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Hezbollah announced that it had carried out attacks on Israeli targets across the border and inside Lebanon, including targeting Israeli forces in the border area of Bint Jbeil in the south, where its fighters claim to be confronting Israeli forces, while the Israeli army says it has encircled the town.