Lebanese parliament speaker will ensure Hezbollah respects a ‘global ceasefire’ with Israel under a US-brokered deal, his adviser says.
BEIRUT: Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, will guarantee the Iran-backed group’s adherence to a “global ceasefire” with Israel, his adviser told AFP on Tuesday.
Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal party, has long acted as an intermediary between the group and the United States, which considers Hezbollah a “terrorist” organisation.
US President Donald Trump said late Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to call off a military raid on Beirut while Hezbollah agreed “all shooting will stop”.
Adviser Ali Hamdan told AFP that “speaker Berri’s main demand is a global ceasefire. If a global ceasefire deal is reached, he will guarantee Hezbollah’s respect for it.”
Hamdan said a “global ceasefire means a halt to Israeli strikes by air, land or sea, and that it will not carry out detonations or demolitions” in the south, where Israel is accused of razing entire villages.
Trump had said that “through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
Netanyahu said late Monday that he had told Trump “that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut”.
Hezbollah has not released a statement on the announcement.
Lebanon’s embassy in the United States said on Monday that Hezbollah had accepted a US proposal on a “mutual cessation of attacks”.
“Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Dahiyeh would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from launching attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territory,” the embassy statement released by the Lebanese presidency added, referring to Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Iran has insisted that a ceasefire in Lebanon remains a key condition for any deal with the United States to end the Middle East war.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country’s chief negotiator, said on Monday night that he and Berri had spoken by phone.
Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart that “if the Israeli aggression on Lebanon continues, we will not just stop the negotiation process, but we will be in a direct confrontation with the enemy”, he said on X, referring to Israel.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that Tehran was no longer engaging in talks with Washington because of Israel’s offensive on Lebanon, although there was no official confirmation of this.
