Hezbollah backs Iran-US talks mediated by Pakistan
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement supports the resumption of negotiations between Iran and the United States with Pakistani mediation and remains committed to the negotiating track in Islamabad, said Lebanese MP Ali Mokdad of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, Hezbollah’s political wing.
“The focus remains on the Islamabad negotiating track, namely the talks between Tehran and Washington in the Pakistani capital, because it was through that process that the war in Lebanon was halted, not as a result of a direct agreement framework between Israel and the Lebanese authorities,” Mokdad said, as reported by the RIA Novosti news agency from Beirut on Friday.
Mokdad added that the current de-escalation does not mean the peace process has ended. One of the main points in the Iran-US negotiations is the restoration of peace in Lebanon.
“Iran’s threat to retaliate if the shelling continues, including attacks on Beirut and the capital’s southern suburbs, reaffirms the first point of the agreement, which calls for the establishment of a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Lebanon,” he said.
Mokdad said the actions were part of the political agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at strengthening his position ahead of elections. He was referring to the Israeli military’s ongoing efforts to seize the strategic Ali Al Taher hill in southern Lebanon.
He also said the Lebanese authorities bore responsibility for the continuation of Israeli attacks as well as the destruction and devastation of villages and towns in the country’s southern region.
“Israel has obtained a kind of legal justification to cover up its occupation, crimes and attacks,” the MP said.
The agreement framework signed by Lebanon and Israel in Washington on 26 June stipulates that the Lebanese army will regain control of the country’s southern region on the condition that Hezbollah is disarmed. The process will begin with a “pilot zone” that Israeli forces must vacate.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly stated that negotiations are the only way to end the war and create conditions that allow residents of southern Lebanon to return to their homes.