Salam says greatest help to Israel was provided by Hezbollah

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the greatest help to Israel was provided by Hezbollah after Sheikh Naim Qassem accused authorities of helping Israel.

Qassem had said on Tuesday in a televised address that direct talks between Lebanon and Israel would bring only "humiliation" for Lebanon, accusing Lebanese authorities of having "helped Israel instead of helping Lebanon's sovereignty" by continuing with negotiations that handed Israel "political gains".

At negotiations in Washington in June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region.

Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the direct talks and refuses to surrender its weapons.

Violence in Lebanon has decreased since the Lebanon-Israel deal, but Lebanon continues to report intermittent Israeli strikes, shelling and heavy demolitions in southern villages and towns.

"Shouldn't the systematic destruction of southern villages and towns... be reason for the political authorities to say, 'We don't want dialogue with the Israeli entity'?" Qassem said.

Salam hit back on X, saying "the greatest help to Israel was provided by those who unilaterally drew Lebanon into the adventures of futile wars... and granted it pretexts to attack our country".

"Those who unilaterally take the decision of war and try to continue to seize the state's decision-making, and to tie Lebanon to foreign calculations and axes, ignoring the interests of their community and the Lebanese in general, are not fit to lecture on patriotism, not to mention on sovereignty," Salam added.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed the state's commitment to end "the Israeli occupation... and secure the conditions for the dignified and safe return of people to their towns and villages", and to rebuild.

Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar criticized Salam for taking a sharp tone against Hezbollah while remaining quiet as Israel "violates our sovereignty, destroys villages, and razes homes, farmland, and infrastructure."

Ammar argued that the Prime Minister no longer distinguishes "between those who violate sovereignty and occupy the land and those who defend it".