BEIRUT, (Lebanon): Hezbollah on Saturday renewed its rejection of direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, where authorities reported 10 people killed in the latest Israeli attacks in the country’s south.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office said on Friday that officials from his country, Israel and the United States would meet next week in Washington “to discuss declaring a ceasefire and the start date for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel under US auspices”.
Hundreds of people gathered near the government headquarters in central Beirut on Saturday in support of Hezbollah and to protest against the talks with Israel, some waving the group’s yellow flags or the Iranian standard.
Oula Hammoud, from south Lebanon, said she rejected any normalisation with Israel and wanted Prime Minister Nawaf Salam “to leave the country”.
“From the start of the war until now, only the heroes have defended us,” she said, asking: “What has he (Salam) done for the nation?”
Fellow demonstrator Ruqaya Msheik said the protest was a message that Lebanon “will not be Israeli”.
“Whoever wants peace with Israel is not Lebanese,” she said, adding: “Those who shake hands with the enemy… are Zionists.”
Aoun had repeatedly expressed readiness for direct talks ever since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran, sparking massive Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.
After a ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran this week, Washington and Tehran have been at odds over whether it also applies to Lebanon, where Israel has kept up heavy strikes and Hezbollah has responded with its own attacks.
Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement issued a statement later Saturday calling on supporters to avoid demonstrating “at this delicate stage”, citing interests of “stability, the protection of civil peace and avoiding any division that the Israeli enemy seeks”.
Earlier, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the decision to hold direct talks with Israel was “a blatant violation of the (national) pact, the constitution and Lebanese laws”.
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