BEIRUT, June 29 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah, on Monday slammed a U.S.-brokered settlement between Lebanon and Israel, warning it may result in makes an attempt to divide Lebanese and stated it might not be carried out.
In feedback to Lebanon’s al-Akhbar newspaper, Berri described Iran-U.S. negotiations as the one life like alternative to safe Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and that any try to separate Lebanon from the U.S.-Iran monitor would lengthen Israeli occupation.
Israel has occupied a swathe of southern Lebanon in a struggle with Hezbollah that started on March 2, when the group opened hearth at Israel in solidarity with Tehran after it got here beneath U.S.-Israeli assault.
The Lebanon struggle has been a central a part of diplomacy in the direction of ending the broader U.S.-Iran battle. Tehran has insisted on a Lebanon ceasefire as a part of its interim cope with Washington, whereas the US has sponsored separate talks between the Lebanese and Israeli governments, which Beirut has attended regardless of Hezbollah’s objections.
Israel has praised the settlement, signed by the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington on Friday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it permits Israeli forces to proceed to occupy southern Lebanon if Hezbollah doesn’t disarm.
Hezbollah, which has demanded Beirut stop its face-to-face talks with the Israeli authorities, has rejected the deal as a give up to Israel.
BERRI DISMISSES LEBANON-ISRAEL AGREEMENT AS ‘DICTATES’
The settlement foresees the Lebanese navy taking management of territory pending the verified disarmament of non-state teams — a reference to Hezbollah — saying this might allow the Israeli navy “to progressively redeploy out of” Lebanon. It foresees the Lebanese military steadily assuming duty in “pilot zones”.
Berri, head of the Shi’ite Muslim Amal Motion, described the settlement as “dictates”. Al-Akhbar quoted Berri as saying probably the most harmful facet of the settlement was not solely its political content material, however “the potential for it to incite inside divisions and draw the Lebanese right into a confrontation amongst themselves”.
The settlement “will not be carried out”, al-Akhbar cited him as saying.
The Lebanese administration headed by the Maronite Christian President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a Sunni Muslim, referred to as for face-to-face talks with Israel early within the struggle regardless of robust objections from Shi’ite Hezbollah, reflecting deep divisions over its determination to hitch the battle in help of Iran.
The Beirut authorities has been pursuing a coverage geared toward securing Hezbollah’s disarmament since final 12 months, after the group was badly weakened throughout a earlier struggle with Israel in 2024.
Aoun, in a telephone name with U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, stated he hoped Washington would press Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces seized a self-declared safety zone stretching into southern Lebanon in the course of the struggle, citing the must defend northern Israel from Hezbollah assaults.
The Israeli navy stated it destroyed a 200-meter (656-ft)-long Hezbollah tunnel within the south in a single day. It additionally stated it had struck three Hezbollah command centres in southern Lebanon on Sunday in response to violations of a ceasefire by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, in an announcement on Monday, stated it has adhered to the ceasefire “till now”, and that it reserved the proper “to defend its homeland and its folks”.
(Reporting by Tala Ramadan and Nayera Abdallah in Dubai; Writing by Tom Perry; modifying by John Davison, William Maclean)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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