Hezbollah leader condemns US pressure on Lebanon

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem complained on Tuesday that Washington is trying to force the country to make concessions to Israel with no commitments offered in return.

Washington is pushing to cut off Hezbollah's funding sources while also pressing the Lebanese government to disarm the armed group.

Hezbollah was greatly weakened in its most recent war with Israel, which ended in a November 2024 ceasefire, but Israeli strikes have continued at a lower rate.

"America... is putting pressure on the government to make concessions without any reciprocal commitments or guarantees... and wants to give Israel free rein," Qassem said, on Hezbollah's al-Manar television.

"The government's role is not to listen to American diktats and begin implementing them."

A delegation from the US Treasury, which met with Lebanese officials on Sunday and Monday, urged them to take action to halt Iranian funding of Hezbollah.

The US "administration is very serious about cutting off Iran's funding" to Hezbollah, deputy director for counter-terrorism John Hurley told journalists on Monday.

According to the US Treasury, Iran has transferred more than a billion dollars to the group since January.

A Lebanese official who requested anonymity to speak freely, told AFP news agency that the US delegation delivered a "clear and firm" message on the need to actively fight against Hezbollah's funding sources.

Hezbollah emerged from the last war with Israel without Qassem's predecessor Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated, and with much of its military capability destroyed.

Hezbollah's grip on Lebanese politics has since weakened, but it refuses to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army.

"We will not give up our weapons, which give us strength and determination," the Hezbollah chief reiterated on Tuesday.

Israel says Hezbollah trying to rebuild, smuggle in arms from Syria

The Israeli military accused Hezbollah on Tuesday of seeking to rebuild its combat abilities in south Lebanon to the point of threatening Israel's security and undoing last year's ceasefire deal.

Military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah was operating south of the Litani River in violation of the truce accord and that Israeli forces were conducting strikes on Hezbollah targets in that area. Hezbollah says it is committed to the ceasefire deal.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam say Israel is violating the truce deal, pointing to the occupation of five hilltop positions in southern Lebanon by Israeli troops as well as Israeli air strikes and deadly ground incursions into Lebanese territory.

Shoshani told a news briefing that Hezbollah was also trying to smuggle in weapons from Syria and via other routes to Lebanon. "We are working to prevent that from happening and to block the ground routes from Syria into Lebanon to a high level of success, but they still pose a threat to us," Shoshani said.

"We are committed to the agreement but it must be held. We will not return to the reality of October 7 (2023) with a threat of thousands of terrorists on our border within walking distance of our civilians."

Hezbollah denies it is rebuilding its military capabilities in south Lebanon.

It has not fired at Israel since the ceasefire came into force, and Lebanese security officials told news agency Reuters that Hezbollah has not obstructed Lebanese army operations to find and confiscate the group's weapons in the country's south.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Qassem said Hezbollah remained committed to the 2024 ceasefire and that there was "no alternative" to that deal.

He said if Israel withdrew, stopped its attacks on Lebanon and released Lebanese nationals detained in Israel, then northern Israeli towns would have "no problem" with security.

But he reiterated Hezbollah's rejection of full disarmament and said Israel's destructive and deadly strikes "cannot continue", adding: "There is a limit to everything."

Israel has been pressing Lebanon's army to be more aggressive in disarming Hezbollah by searching private homes in the south for weaponry, according to Lebanese and Israeli officials.

The army is confident it can declare Lebanon's south free of Hezbollah arms by the end of 2025, but has refused to search private dwellings for fear of reigniting civil strife and derailing a disarmament strategy seen by the army as cautious but effective, Lebanese security officials told Reuters.