Hizbollah rejects US-brokered ceasefire as Israel pursues offensive

{"text":[[{"start":10.5,"text":"Hizbollah’s leader has rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s governments, as Israel pressed ahead with military operations against the militant group in southern and eastern Lebanon."}],[{"start":21.4,"text":"The US-brokered agreement was announced in a joint statement on Wednesday after Israeli forces made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in decades. It did not set a timeline for Israel’s withdrawal."}],[{"start":31.95,"text":"In a written statement on Thursday, Hizbollah’s leader Naim Qassem said his group demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and vowed that Hizbollah would not stop attacking Israel “as long as our villages are not safe and are being bombed and destroyed and our people are killed”."}],[{"start":49.25,"text":"“We are concerned only with a comprehensive cessation of aggression through a ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” he said. “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation.” "}],[{"start":62.4,"text":"Qassem said the agreement’s demand that Hizbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean “surrender, defeat, and achieving the enemy’s goals”. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":71.6,"text":"Hizbollah’s announcement came as Israeli strikes pounded southern Lebanon, killing at least four people, according to local authorities, while a UN peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire."}],[{"start":81.64999999999999,"text":"Israel’s military said Hizbollah launched several rockets towards its soldiers operating in southern Lebanon. It blamed the killing of the peacekeeper on Hizbollah."}],[{"start":90.39999999999999,"text":"Earlier on Thursday, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said his country would continue its operations in southern Lebanon, and Lebanese residents would not yet be allowed to return to their homes there. "}],[{"start":101.14999999999999,"text":"He also claimed that Israel had “freedom of action, backed by the United States, to strike in Beirut in response to attacks on Israeli communities and territory”."}],[{"start":109.6,"text":"The renewed conflict between Israel and Hizbollah erupted after the militant group fired rockets across the border, following the launch of the US and Israeli war against Iran on February 28."}],[{"start":120.19999999999999,"text":"Since then, Israel has pushed deeper into the country’s south, seizing hundreds of square kilometres of land and forcing more than 1mn people from their homes. At least 3,526 people have been killed in the fighting so far, including hundreds of women, children and healthcare workers. The fighting has killed 27 Israeli soldiers and three civilians."}],[{"start":142.85,"text":"Now in its fourth month, the conflict in Lebanon has threatened efforts to reach a long-term deal to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":152.25,"text":"Iran has demanded that any lasting agreement include a full cessation of hostilities in Lebanon. The head of the elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards on Thursday reiterated that demand, calling for Israel to pull troops back to their locations when the wider war began. At the time, Israel held around five positions along the border. "}],[{"start":171.8,"text":"But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing domestic pressure and a looming election, has instead sought to press ahead with his country’s offensive. "}],[{"start":181.55,"text":"On Monday, US President Donald Trump said Israel and Hizbollah had agreed to limit their fighting in Lebanon, writing on social media that Netanyahu had agreed that Israeli forces “going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back”. "}],[{"start":199.70000000000002,"text":"He said Hizbollah had agreed not to continue attacks on Israel. The Lebanese embassy in Washington on Monday said Hizbollah had agreed to a “mutual cessation of attacks”. It added that Israel would not strike Hizbollah strongholds in southern Beirut."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":215.55,"text":"Wednesday’s joint Lebanon-Israel-US statement — which follows a ceasefire agreed on April 16 that did not halt the fighting — called Hizbollah “an enemy” of Israel, the US and Lebanon, and called for its dismantling."}],[{"start":229.25,"text":"Beirut has sought to neuter the group in the past, but in practice it risks civil strife if it tries to dismantle Hizbollah by force."}],[{"start":237.5,"text":"The joint statement underscores the growing divide in the country over the group and its ties to Iran, and risks further alienating Hizbollah and its supporters."}],[{"start":246.75,"text":"The statement also calls for Lebanon’s armed forces to take control of so-called “pilot” zones in Lebanon from which Hizbollah militants would be barred. It was not immediately clear how such a provision would be enforced, but the plan would add to pressure on Lebanon’s under-resourced military."}],[{"start":262.8,"text":"Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday called the new agreement “the last chance to enter a final and comprehensive ceasefire”. He said Lebanon was ready to implement Wednesday’s deal once relevant factors in Lebanon, namely Hizbollah, had agreed to it. "}],[{"start":279.45,"text":"But Aoun told journalists that Trump himself would determine how and when the deal is ultimately implemented."}],[{"start":293.7,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780619338_2848.mp3"}