Two days before Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to sit down in Washington for their first direct negotiations, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem moved to derail the effort, calling on Lebanon's government to walk away from the table and insist on indirect talks instead.
Kassem delivered the demand by letter to Hezbollah officials on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, arguing that face-to-face negotiations with Israel amount to "concessions by Lebanese authorities." He urged the government to pursue indirect negotiations through a third party, the same format that produced the November 2024 ceasefire.
The timing is no accident. Washington-brokered talks are set to begin Thursday and run two days, and the Lebanese government has staked out five demands: a cessation of hostilities, full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, the deployment of Lebanese troops south of the Litani River, the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel, and the return of displaced civilians to their homes. Kassem said Hezbollah was ready to cooperate on all five points, but only if Lebanon refuses to sit across from Israeli negotiators.
The backdrop to Kassem's demand is a ceasefire that has failed to stop the fighting. The U.S.-brokered truce took effect April 17, yet Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told reporters that 380 people have been killed and 1,122 wounded since then. The total toll since the war began on March 2 now stands at 2,882 dead and 8,786 wounded.
On Tuesday alone, the violence continued from multiple directions. Israel's military said Hezbollah fired several drones at northern Israel, with some explosive drones detonating near the border. Israel intercepted several others before they crossed. No injuries were reported on the Israeli side.
From the early hours, Israel's air force struck targets across southern Lebanon and in Sohmor, a town in the eastern Bekaa Valley. The Israeli military had earlier issued evacuation warnings to residents of Sohmor and four other southern Lebanese villages. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that airstrikes on the village of Jibchit killed three people and wounded four.
Hezbollah claimed its fighters struck Israeli troops near the village of Deir Seryan along the Litani River with rockets. The Israeli military posted photos of its troops positioned along the Litani but did not disclose exact locations.
In Deir Mimas, also on the Litani, the National News Agency said Israeli forces entered parts of the village and demolished a water pumping station. The pre-dawn blast caused widespread damage, the agency reported. That kind of infrastructure destruction, targeting a civilian water facility, speaks to the intensity of operations still underway despite the ceasefire's nominal existence.
The broader pattern is familiar to anyone who has followed the dangerous conditions in southern Lebanon, where even international peacekeepers have been caught in the crossfire.
Kassem's letter also drew a firm line on the question that matters most. He said the dispute over Hezbollah's weapons is an internal Lebanese affair and should not be part of any negotiations with Israel. That position puts him squarely at odds with Lebanon's own government.
Since the latest fighting broke out in early March, Lebanon's government has sought Hezbollah's disarmament, declaring all military activities by the group illegal. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam both support disarming Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups, Fox News reported, even as they demand Israel halt its attacks and withdraw.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack expressed confidence in Lebanon's posture, saying Beirut had endorsed a U.S.-backed plan for Hezbollah to disarm.
"I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They've taken the first step."
Barrack directed a pointed warning at Hezbollah as well, saying that if the group "does not back the calls for it to disarm," it will have "missed an opportunity."
That framing, opportunity versus obstruction, captures the core tension. Lebanon's elected leaders are moving toward disarmament. Hezbollah's leader is trying to dictate the terms under which his own government negotiates. The question is which side Washington will hold accountable if the talks collapse.
The broader dynamic reflects Iran's tightening grip on Hezbollah, which helps explain why Kassem's posture has hardened even as Lebanon's government tries to chart a sovereign path forward.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah confirmed that one of its military commanders, Ahmed Ghaleb Balout, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on May 6. Hezbollah described Balout as a commander who "spent much of his life on the battlefield" and released his photo. The Israeli military identified him as a commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force and said he was killed along with two other militants.
The killing of a senior Radwan Force officer, weeks after a ceasefire was supposed to take hold, illustrates how hollow the truce has become. Israel continues targeted operations. Hezbollah continues launching drones and rockets. And Lebanese civilians continue dying at a rate that makes the word "ceasefire" almost meaningless.
The war itself traces back to March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the United States and Israel struck Iran. Lebanon and Israel have technically been at war since Israel's founding in 1948, but the latest escalation has produced a fresh cycle of destruction and diplomatic maneuvering.
The Trump administration has been actively engaged in trying to stabilize the situation. The president extended the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire by three weeks after White House talks in late April, buying time for the kind of negotiations now scheduled for Thursday.
Whether Lebanon's government will heed Kassem's demand remains an open question. The government has publicly committed to all five of its negotiating points and has labeled Hezbollah's armed activities illegal. Walking away from direct talks, at Hezbollah's insistence, would undercut that posture entirely.
Vice President Vance has already signaled the administration's view of who bears responsibility for instability in the region. He warned Iran directly not to let Lebanon derail the ceasefire, a message that applies with equal force to Hezbollah's latest maneuver.
Kassem's demand is revealing in its own right. He says Hezbollah is ready to cooperate on Lebanon's five demands, withdrawal, troop deployment, prisoner release, civilian return, and an end to hostilities. But he insists the group's weapons are off the table and that Lebanon must not negotiate face-to-face with Israel. That is not cooperation. It is a veto dressed up as a concession.
Lebanon's elected leaders say disarmament is the law. Hezbollah's leader says it is none of Israel's business. The United States is offering a framework. And on Thursday, someone in Beirut will have to decide whether the Lebanese government speaks for Lebanon, or whether Hezbollah does.
A sovereign nation that lets an armed faction dictate whether it can sit at a negotiating table is not really sovereign at all.