File photo of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday (April 27, 2026) rejected Lebanon’s planned direct negotiations with Israel, calling them a “grave sin” that will destabilise Lebanon.Lebanon and Israel’s U.S. ambassadors held two meetings in Washington over the past weeks, the first of their kind in decades.The first meeting led to a truce in the Israel-Hezbollah war, while Beirut has been preparing for direct negotiations with the aim of striking a peace deal with Israel. The two countries have officially been at war since 1948.
Also Read : Israel-Iran LIVE“We categorically reject direct negotiations with Israel, and those in power should know that their actions will not benefit Lebanon or themselves,” Mr. Qassem said in a statement, aired by the group’s channel Al-Manar.He called on authorities to “back down from their grave sin that is putting Lebanon in a spiral of instability”.He added that the Lebanese government “cannot continue while it is neglecting Lebanon’s rights, giving up land, and confronting its resistant people”.Lebanese authorities have repeatedly stated that the goal of the US-sponsored negotiations is to stop the war, secure Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and return displaced people to their homes after the fighting forced more than a million people to flee.
