BEIRUT: The deputy leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday the only sure path to a ceasefire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full ceasefire in Gaza.
鈥淚f there is a ceasefire in Gaza, we will stop without any discussion,鈥� Hezbollah鈥檚 deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in an interview with The Associated Press at the group鈥檚 political office in Beirut鈥檚 southern suburbs.
Hezbollah鈥檚 participation in the Israel-Hamas war has been as a 鈥渟upport front鈥� for its ally, Hamas, Kassem said, and 鈥渋f the war stops, this military support will no longer exist.鈥�
But, he said, if Israel scales back its military operations without a formal ceasefire agreement and full withdrawal from Gaza, the implications for the Lebanon-Israel border conflict are less clear.
鈥淚f what happens in Gaza is a mix between ceasefire and no ceasefire, war and no war, we can鈥檛 answer (how we would react) now, because we don鈥檛 know its shape, its results, its impacts,鈥� Kassem said during a 40-minute interview.
The war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 鈥� mostly civilians 鈥� and kidnapping roughly 250. Israel responded with an air and ground assault that has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 37,900 people in Gaza, according to the territory鈥檚 Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Talks of a ceasefire in Gaza have faltered in recent weeks, raising fears of an escalation on the Lebanon-Israel front. Hezbollah has traded near-daily strikes with Israeli forces along their border over the past nine months.
The low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed; in Lebanon, more than 450 people 鈥� mostly fighters but also dozens of civilians 鈥� have been killed
Hamas has demanded an end to the war in Gaza, and not just a pause in fighting, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to make such a commitment until Israel realizes its goals of destroying Hamas鈥� military and governing capabilities and brings home the roughly 120 hostages still held by Hamas.
Last month, the Israeli army said it had 鈥渁pproved and validated鈥� plans for an offensive in Lebanon if no diplomatic solution was reached to the ongoing clashes. Any decision to launch such an operation would have to come from the country鈥檚 political leadership.
Some Israeli officials have said they are seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff and hope to avoid war. At the same time, they have warned that the scenes of destruction seen in Gaza will be repeated in Lebanon if war breaks out.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, is far more powerful than Hamas and believed to have a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.
Kassem said he doesn鈥檛 believe that Israel currently has the ability 鈥� or has made a decision 鈥� to launch a full-blown war with Hezbollah. He warned that even if Israel intends to launch a limited operation in Lebanon that stops short of a full-scale war, it should not expect the fighting to remain limited.
鈥淚srael can decide what it wants: limited war, total war, partial war,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it should expect that our response and our resistance will not be within a ceiling and rules of engagement set by Israel鈥� If Israel wages the war, it means it doesn鈥檛 control its extent or who enters into it.鈥�
The latter was an apparent reference to Hezbollah鈥檚 allies in the Iran-backed so-called 鈥渁xis of resistance鈥� in the region. Armed groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere 鈥� and, potentially, Iran itself 鈥� could enter the fray in the event of a full-scale war in Lebanon, which might also pull in Israel鈥檚 strongest ally, the United States.
U,S. and European diplomats have made a circuit between Lebanon and Israel for months in an attempt to ward off a wider conflict.
Kassem said he met on Saturday with Germany鈥檚 deputy chief of intelligence, Ole Dieh, in Beirut. US officials do not meet directly with Hezbollah because Washington has designated it a terrorist group, but they regularly send messages via intermediaries.
Kassem said White House envoy Amos Hochstein had recently requested via intermediaries that Hezbollah apply pressure on Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostage-exchange proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden. He said Hezbollah had rejected the request.
鈥淗amas is the one that makes its decisions and whoever wants to ask for something should talk to it directly,鈥� he said.
Kassem criticized US efforts to find a resolution to the war in Gaza, saying it has backed Israel鈥檚 plans to end Hamas鈥� presence in Gaza. A constructive deal, he said, would aim to end the war, get Israel to withdraw from Gaza, and ensure the release of hostages.
Once a ceasefire is reached, then a political track can determine the arrangements inside Gaza and on the front with Lebanon, he added.