Hezbollah rejects US-brokered Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, demands full Israeli withdrawal

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the ceasefire agreement announced in Washington in a written statement read Thursday on the group's Al-Manar TV. The accord, reached after talks between Israeli and Lebanese delegations in Washington on June 2 and 3, conditions an Israeli halt on Hezbollah fighters leaving southern Lebanon. Qassem said that requirement meant 'surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy's goals.' 'What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel's withdrawal,' he said. 'We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation,' he added, demanding instead a 'global ceasefire' and a full Israeli withdrawal.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the latest round as the 'last opportunity' for a comprehensive ceasefire and said it 'could be implemented within twenty-four hours' of final approval. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the Lebanese army would begin deploying in 'pilot zones' in the south -- proposed as east and west Zawtar, Yohmor, and Beaufort Castle -- as a first phase that did 'not prejudice our right to a full Israeli withdrawal.' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the deal offered 'an occasion to avoid a return to large-scale hostilities' and announced an additional 100 million euros in EU funds for Lebanese armed forces. French President Emmanuel Macron, in Montenegro, endorsed the ceasefire and said France and the US had a coordination mechanism in place to verify its implementation.

Fighting continued throughout the day. Israeli strikes killed at least four people in Lebanon. A UN peacekeeper, Serbian Staff Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic, born 1989, died early Thursday after mortar rounds struck his position near Ebel As-Saqi, in the southeast of the country; the Israeli military said trajectory analysis showed the fire came clearly from Hezbollah. A drone strike near Tyr killed one person and wounded another. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Beirut would be bombed if Israel were attacked from Lebanese territory.

Iranian Supreme Leader Motjaba Khamenei, in a message delivered by a cleric on the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death, said Iran had struck 'a decisive blow' and that the US and Israel were experiencing 'a meaningful and profound humiliation.' He called the efforts to sow doubt among Iranians a form of 'trickery' and said Iran 'will not back down from its stance toward Israel.' Iran's Quds Force commander General Esmail Ghaani separately demanded that Israeli troops return to the positions they held before the war in Iran and called expelling Israel from the region 'an achievable objective.'

In Washington, the House of Representatives voted 215-208 to direct the president to withdraw US forces from hostilities with Iran -- the first time either chamber had passed such a measure since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28. Four Republicans voted with Democrats: Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and a fourth. Trump dismissed the vote as 'antipatriotic' and 'meaningless,' saying the four Republicans knew 'where the negotiations stand.' The resolution is symbolic, subject to a presidential veto, but marks the first congressional pushback against the conflict.

At the Strait of Hormuz, the US CentCom said 127 commercial ships had been diverted since the American blockade of Iranian ports took effect, six non-compliant vessels had been neutralised, and 36 humanitarian ships had been permitted to continue. Four Iranian-flagged tankers -- the Hilda I, Amber, Silvia I, and Happiness I -- passed through the strait on Monday with their AIS transponders off, carrying a combined seven million barrels of oil; maritime tracker Kpler said it was the first such movement since April 15. The IAEA called on Iran, in a confidential report seen by Reuters, to 'urgently' disclose the fate of its enriched uranium since its nuclear sites were bombed and to resume full inspections, saying implementation of its NPT safeguards agreement 'cannot be suspended by Iran under any circumstances.'