“We don’t accept any extension of the deadline, and we will not accept any justification to prolong it even for a second,” Sheikh Naim Qassem, the Hezbollah leader, said in a speech Monday. File Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 27 (UPI) — Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Monday that Israel should withdraw from the occupied border areas in southern Lebanon, rejecting the extension of the cease-fire arrangements to Feb. 18.
“Israel should get out. … We don’t accept any extension of the deadline, and we will not accept any justification to prolong it even for a second,” Qassem said in a speech broadcast by Hezbollah-run Al Manar television station.
His remarks came after the White House announced in a statement Sunday that a U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement that ended the war between Lebanon and Israel on Nov. 27 “will remain in effect until Feb. 18.”
The cease-fire’s 60-day deadline expired at dawn Sunday, but Israel refused to complete the pullout of its forces from southern Lebanon, arguing that the Lebanese Army has been slow in redeploying, while Hezbollah still maintains its military presence in areas prohibited by the agreement.
Lebanon has accused the Israeli military of procrastinating its troop withdrawal.
Israel’s decision to remain inside southern Lebanon prompted thousands of displaced residents to forcefully return to their towns and homes, most of which were destroyed by the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah that broke out in October 2023.
A total of 26 people were killed and 134 were wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on the returning residents Sunday and Monday,