File Photo: Lebanon’s Hezbollah new leader Naim Qassem delivers a speech from an unknown location. Photo courtesy of Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun rejected Israel's occupation of the south and foreign interference in his country's affairs, an allusion to Hezbollah's backer Iran, as a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon talks began in Washington.
On Monday, mediators Pakistan and Qatar said that Tehran and Washington had agreed to set up a "de-confliction cell" to limit flare-ups in Lebanon following talks in Switzerland on ending the wider Middle East war, which Tehran has linked to halting the parallel conflict in Lebanon.
"We now have a ceasefire. The withdrawal must take place according to a timetable. Israel has no choice but to fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory, without retaining an inch," Qassem said, in a televised address.
Deadly clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on Friday and Saturday had rattled the fledgling US-Iran deal, which provides for a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.
The fighting in Lebanon has largely paused since Saturday evening.
"Israel withdraws and the Lebanese army deploys exclusively south of the Litani River," Qassem said, referring to a waterway around 30 kilometres (some 20 miles) from the Israeli border.
'Treacherous attack'
Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said two men were killed Tuesday when Israeli soldiers opened fire with machine-guns "while they were standing near an excavator that was unblocking a road" in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
The health ministry later confirmed the toll.
Hezbollah slammed it as a "blatant" Israeli truce violation and a "treacherous attack".
The NNA also reported that "an enemy drone targeted a parked car" on the outskirts of the town of Baraasheet, without immediately reporting casualties.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, had said earlier on Tuesday that it had not observed any launches, strikes or interceptions "since Sunday, marking more than two days without such activity".
'Sovereignty'
Under US pressure, Lebanese officials began direct talks with Israel in April in Washington, with Lebanese authorities seeking to separate the negotiations from the US-Iran deal.
"We accept nothing less than an end to the Israeli occupation and, at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage," Aoun said, according to his office.
The Lebanese president has previously accused Iran of using his country as a "bargaining chip".
He expressed hope that the new round of talks would be "decisive" in helping achieve "the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty".
Aoun's office also said he spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron over the phone, discussing the situation "in light of the results of the US-Iran negotiations".
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who acts as an intermediary for the group, also spoke to Macron, his office said, emphasising "the importance of consolidating the ceasefire" and Israel's withdrawal.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East on March 2 war with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
Since then, Israel has killed more than 3,900 people and wounded more than 11,700 others.
More than 68,000 housing units were damaged by Israeli bombing, with losses estimated at approximately $365 million in Beirut and its southern suburbs alone, according to Lebanese government estimates.
More than 1.2 million people were forced to flee their homes due to Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon, Beirut, and other areas.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces in Lebanon retained "full freedom of action to thwart any direct or developing threat".
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