BEIRUT, February 16. /TASS/. Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem has urged Israel to withdraw its troops from the Lebanese territory as there are no grounds for them to continue controlling several border settlements.
"The government must spare no effort to ensure that [Israeli] troops are withdrawn within the set timeframe - before February 18, as envisaged by the truce agreement," the Al Manar television channel quoted him as saying. "Lebanon should ask its partners - the United States and France - to force Israel to leave."
Otherwise, resistance forces "will not tolerate the invaders’ presence on the Lebanese soil and they know what to do to them," he warned.
The Hezbollah leader also called on Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to review his decision banning Iranian planes from landing at the Beirut international airport as this move was made under Israel’s pressure to avoid its bombardments. "We demand the government take a firm position on this matter being guided by the interests of Lebanon’s sovereignty," Qassem stressed.
Hezbollah supporters blocked traffic along the highway leading to the Beirut international airport on February 13, 14, and 15 to protest against Lebanon’s refusal to receive Iran’s Mahar Air flights. Crowds of aggressive young men attacked motor vehicles heading to the airport, including convoys of United Nations peace keepers. Several streets in Beirut’s western and southern neighborhoods were also blocked with burning tires.
The Lebanese army suppressed the riots and restored traffic. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pledged to prevent aby recurrence of actions that destabilize the situation and jeopardize civil peace.
The truce agreement, concluded as a result of US-French mediation on November 27, 2024, provides for the deployment of the Lebanese army along the southern border with the support of UN peacekeepers and the withdrawal of Hezbollah militias beyond the Litani River. In return, Israel is obliged to pull its forces out of southern Lebanon within up to 60 days. On January 27, the White House said that an agreement had been reached to extend the timeframe for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Lebanese territory until February 18.