Hezbollah rejects Lebanon-Israel talks, calls them ‘shameful’

Hezbollah has condemned the latest round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, with the group’s leader branding the Rome talks a source of “shame” and “humiliation” for Lebanon — even as US-brokered diplomacy grinds forward for the seventh time since the conflict escalated.

Rome talks continue despite sharp criticism

The two countries met again in the Italian capital this week under American sponsorship, the seventh such direct session since Hezbollah launched rocket fire into northern Israel in March, drawing Lebanon headlong into a wider regional war. Israel responded with heavy airstrikes across southern Lebanon before committing ground forces, a campaign that has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced along the border.

But none of that has stopped the diplomatic track. US officials have pushed hard to keep both delegations at the table, viewing the talks as the most viable path to a sustainable ceasefire arrangement before the fighting spreads further.

Hezbollah’s leader speaks out

The group’s secretary-general didn’t hold back. In a televised address, he said the very act of sitting across from Israeli representatives was a betrayal — that Lebanon’s government was handing its adversary a political victory it hadn’t earned on the battlefield. The words landed hard in Beirut, where political opinion on the negotiations is already deeply divided.

“These talks bring nothing but humiliation to our people,” he said, according to FRANCE 24’s Seema Gupta, who is covering the story from the region.

Still, Lebanon’s delegation pressed on. Government officials argue privately that with the country’s economy still reeling — GDP contracted sharply during the first months of the conflict — there’s little appetite for letting the war drag on indefinitely.

What’s actually on the table

The Rome sessions have centered on a handful of core issues: the withdrawal of Israeli ground forces from a roughly 10-kilometer buffer zone inside Lebanese territory, the future role of the Lebanese Armed Forces along the southern frontier, and the question of prisoner exchanges. Progress has been slow. The sixth round in late April ended without a joint statement, and expectations heading into this week’s meeting were cautiously low.

Washington has assigned a senior envoy to shuttle between delegations, a sign that the Biden administration — which has faced sustained criticism for its handling of the broader Middle East crisis — sees a Lebanon deal as one of the few diplomatic wins still within reach.

What comes next

The gap between what Hezbollah will accept and what Israel is prepared to offer remains wide. And with the group controlling significant territory in southern Lebanon, any agreement that doesn’t account for its military presence is likely unenforceable in practice.

An eighth round of talks has not been formally scheduled, though US officials say they expect discussions to resume within weeks. Whether Hezbollah’s open defiance hardens Lebanon’s negotiating stance — or simply creates more noise around a process already moving at a crawl — remains to be seen.