Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has again rejected the framework agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel, saying his Iran-backed group will not surrender. In a Friday speech broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television, nearly six months after the war began, Qassem called for the agreement to be cancelled.

The US-mediated direct talks produced a framework deal in late June. It provides for Hezbollah’s disarmament, a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon and deployment of the Lebanese army there, initially in designated “pilot areas.” Qassem described the deal as illegal, humiliating and destructive to Lebanese sovereignty, rejecting both the pilot-area arrangement and any proposed verification mechanism.

A Lebanese official said after talks in Rome earlier this month that there was agreement on a shortlist of possible countries to oversee implementation in the pilot areas, where the Lebanese army would remove Hezbollah infrastructure. Another round of talks is expected in early September, though no date has been announced. Lebanon reported Israeli air strikes in the south on Friday, including in Nabatieh, while Israeli forces remain in a self-declared security zone up to about 10 kilometres inside Lebanese territory.