BEIRUT (AP) 鈥� The Lebanese militant group will not abide by any agreements that may result from the , negotiations it firmly opposes, a senior Hezbollah official said Monday.
Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, spoke on the eve of the between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the U.S. It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, meet face-to-face in direct talks.
鈥淎s for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all,” Safa told The Associated Press.
“We are not bound by what they agree to,鈥� he added in a rare interview with international media. He spoke next to a cemetery as an Israeli drone buzzed overhead.
Historic negotiations at a sensitive time
Lebanese officials are looking to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war in the U.S. talks.
Israeli Prime Minister , meanwhile, has said the goal is Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson for Netanyahu said Monday that there will be no ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Separately, in , Iran has sought to include Lebanon in any ceasefire deal of its own with the U.S. Israel and the U.S. have insisted Lebanon would not be a part of it.
Hours after Tehran and Washington announced a truce last Wednesday, Israel launched more than 100 strikes across Lebanon, including in densely packed residential and commercial areas of central Beirut.
And though the U.S.-Iran talks broke up without an agreement, Safa said Hezbollah has been informed that Iran 鈥渨as able to obtain a cessation of attacks” in the entire administrative region of Beirut, Lebanon’s caital, including Beirut’s southern suburbs 鈥� a Hezbollah-strong area known as Dahiyeh.
Israeli strikes on Beirut and its southern suburbs have halted since Wednesday but intense fighting has continued in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s entry into the war
Israel and Hezbollah have fought since the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group was formed in the 1980s as a guerrilla force fighting against Israel鈥檚 occupation of southern Lebanon at the time.
The began on March 2, two days after . Hezbollah entered the fray, firing missiles across the border into Israel. Israel responded with aerial bombardment and a ground invasion.
Since then, the war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon and killed more than 2,000, including more than 500 women, children and medical workers. Many Lebanese have blamed Hezbollah for pulling Lebanon into the war, accusing it of acting on behalf of its patron, Iran.
Safa said Hezbollah’s actions were preemptive because its leaders believed 鈥淚srael was preparing for a second battle with Lebanon鈥� with the aim of destroying Hezbollah.
It was 鈥渁n appropriate moment for Hezbollah … to rebuild a new equation鈥� and restore deterrence against Israel, he said, denying any prior deals with Tehran that Hezbollah would enter the war if Iran was attacked.
After a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the last Israel-Hezbollah war in November 2024, Israel continued to carry out near-daily strike in Lebanon that it said aimed to stop the group from rebuilding. Hezbollah wants to avoid a return to that status quo, Safa said.
鈥楤lack Wednesday鈥�
Israel has claimed that its strikes on Lebanon last Wednesday killed more than 250 Hezbollah militants. More than 100 women and children were among the over 350 people killed, according to Lebanon鈥檚 health ministry.
That would mean that, according to Israel鈥檚 assertion, every adult male killed that day was a Hezbollah member.
鈥淣one of our officials or cadres was killed in Beirut,” Safa said. 鈥漈hose who died in Beirut are 100% civilians.” He did not deny that members of the group were killed outside of the Lebanese capital.
Israel claimed to have killed Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem’s secretary who was also his nephew, Ali Yusuf Harshi, as well as some high-level commanders.
Safa said Kassem鈥檚 secretary was not killed, although 鈥渕aybe a relative of his was.鈥�
He also confirmed for the first time that he was wounded during the earlier, 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, after being targeted by two Israeli strikes in Beirut, “but God granted me survival.鈥�
Later Monday in a televised address, to pull out of direct talks with Israel, calling the negotiations a 鈥渇ree concession鈥� to Israel and the U.S.
Souring relations with the government
Relations between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah 鈥� which is not just a militant group but also a political party with a parliamentary bloc 鈥� have grown .
The government last year approved a plan to remove all weapons that are not property of the state 鈥� its security forces or military 鈥� and later said it had largely completed the task south of the Litani River, where Hezbollah militants are now fighting with Israeli forces.
After March 2, the government went further, declaring Hezbollah’s armed wing illegal.
Safa said Hezbollah is currently not directly speaking with President Joseph Aoun or Prime Minister Nawaf Salam but that all its communications are going through Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the head of the Hezbollah-allied Amal party.
Safa said that if there is a ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, Hezbollah 鈥� which calls itself a 鈥渞esistance鈥� movement against archenemy Israel 鈥� is ready to negotiate with the Lebanese government about the fate of its weapons.
鈥淭he issue of resistance weapons is a Lebanese matter that has nothing to do with Israel or the United States,鈥� he said.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
