Member of the “Loyalty to the Resistance” bloc, MP Ali Fayyad, reiterated Hezbollah’s position of rejecting direct negotiations between the Lebanese government and Israel, stressing at the same time that the party “does not want any clash with the Lebanese authority,” in light of the ongoing escalation on the southern front and the increasing talk about negotiating tracks under international sponsorship.
Fayyad said in press statements: “We ask the Lebanese authority about the strength factors it relies on in the negotiations,” considering that “the priority for the Lebanese state at this stage must be a comprehensive and complete ceasefire that includes the south.”
He stressed that a ceasefire must be a basic condition before entering into any negotiations, adding: “We object to direct negotiations and call for indirect negotiations.”
He believed that “the government not going to conclude a peace agreement, security agreement, or normalization agreement with Israel is good, but it is not sufficient.”
Regarding internal affairs, Fayyad stressed that “Hezbollah does not want any clash with the Lebanese authority,” noting that “the closer the Lebanese authority comes to observing national constants, the closer we find ourselves to it.”
He also recalled what Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said, pointing out that the latter “expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Lebanese state and announced his objection to direct negotiations.”
Fayyad stressed that “the Lebanese political discourse must move without sliding into peace agreements with Israel.”
Regarding the field confrontation in the south, he said, “The resistance’s confrontation with Israel is based primarily on the field reality, and we have a soft side, which is Israel’s targeting of civilians,” stressing that “the resistance is comfortable and can exhaust Israel in the field.”
He added: “The more the battlefield expands, the more the resistance will be able to target Israel,” considering that “Israel’s arrival to the Litani River will expose it to many attacks.”
Regarding the interconnectedness between the regional fronts, Fayyad considered that “the first factor confronting Israel is the field, and the second factor is Iran’s inclusion of Lebanon at the negotiating table.”
He added: “If war breaks out again between Iran and the United States, the Lebanese scene will become more complicated and the state will not be able to reach a solution alone.”
Fayyad’s positions come at a time when southern Lebanon is witnessing a widespread field escalation, coinciding with continuous Israeli raids and exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, amid escalating talk about political and security arrangements related to the post-confrontation phase.
