A man walks along a street strewn with building debris at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, on March 25, 2026. - / AFP
Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem said, on Wednesday, March 25, that negotiating with Israel under fire would amount to "surrender" for Lebanon, as Israel launched new strikes and Hezbollah said it was targeting Israeli troops.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for around two decades until 2000, has sent ground troops into the south since the latest bout of fighting began.
"When negotiations with the Israeli enemy are proposed under fire, this is an imposition of surrender," Qassem said, as the pro-Iran group announced attacks on Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon, northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
Lebanon's president has called for unprecedented direct negotiations with Israel, which has, so far, rebuffed his proposal.
