This picture shows the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on December 13, 2024, after Israel withdrew from the area as Lebanon’s army deployed under a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah. Agence France-Presse
BEIRUT — Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Saturday that Syria’s new rulers, who ousted the Lebanese armed group’s ally Bashar al-Assad, should not establish ties with neighboring Israel.
“We hope that this new party in power will see Israel as an enemy and not normalise relations with it,” Qassem said in a televised speech, his first public remarks since Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad, who had Hezbollah’s military support during the civil war that began after a 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests.
The rebel forces launched their offensive on November 27, the same day that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. On Sunday, they declared Damascus had fallen, with Assad having fled the country.
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Iran-backed Hezbollah has suffered major blows during more than a year of cross-border fighting with Israel, which the Lebanese group had initiated over the Gaza war.
In late September, the clashes rapidly escalated into full-blown war.
In his speech on Saturday, Qassem maintained that the ceasefire agreement does not mean Hezbollah is required to lay down its weapons.
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The deal stipulates that over a period of 60 days, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers would deploy in southern Lebanon, while Israeli military forces as well as Hezbollah militants withdraw from the border area — Hezbollah to the north, and Israeli troops back to their country.
Hezbollah was the only Lebanese armed group that refused to surrender its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, vowing to keep fighting Israel.