• Lebanese parliament speaker warns of confrontation among country’s people
• President says determined to deploy army up to Israeli border
• Hezbollah asserts right to self-defence after Israeli attacks

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parl­i­ament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday slammed a US-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel, warning it could lead to attempts to divide Lebanese and said it would not be implemented.

Israeli officials sugges­ted the agreement would move forward in the coming days, but there were no immediate reports of any aspects of the deal being implemented on the ground.

Israeli artillery shelled an area near the border in southern Lebanon on Monday, according to the Lebanese state news agency, and the sound of a drone buzzed over Beirut, Reuters reporters said.

In comments to Leban­on’s al-Akhbar newspaper, Berri described Iran-US talks as the only realistic opportunity to secure Isra­eli withdrawal from Leba­non. He said any attempt to separate Lebanon from the US-Iran track would prolong Israeli occupation.

Berri, head of the Amal Movement, described the agreement as “diktats”. Al-Akhbar quoted Berri as saying the most dangerous aspects of the agreement included “the potential for it to incite internal divisions and draw the Leban­ese into a confrontation among themselves”.

‘Deploy up to the border’

Meanwhile, Lebanese Pre­sident Joseph Aoun also met with the US Cent­ral Command (Centcom) chief on Monday, telling him that he was committed to extending the state’s control through its military up to the border with Israel, where Iran-backed group Hezbollah maintains a strong presence.

He reaffirmed to Adm­iral Brad Cooper “the Lebanese state’s determination to extend its authority, through its armed for­ces, to the southern border”, the presidency said, adding that the pair discussed preparations for implementing a framework agreement with Israel and the US

Deal discussed

The Lebanese army said its chief also met with the Centcom chief on Mon­day to discuss the implementation of the US-Leba­non-Israel agreement.

Lebanon’s Rodolphe Ha­­y­­­kal received Admiral Br­­a­d Cooper, with the discussions addressing “the la­t­est developments in Le­­b­­­­a­­non and the region”, a Le­banese army statement said.

Haykal and Cooper also discussed “the importance of successfully implementing the security annex of the framework agreem­ent”, as well as ways of stre­ngthening future cooperation, the statement added.

‘Right to self-defence’

Hezbollah on Monday said it reserved the right to self-defence after several Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon the day before, accusing Israel of a “blat­ant violation of the ceasefire”.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati said on Mo­n­day the accord was “effe­ctively dead” already. He said there was “no reason to mobilise people in the streets or take any act­ion” as there was no way it could be implemented, he told Lebanese Al Jadeed TV.

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike hit the country’s south.

“Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike targeting the area between the southern Lebanese towns of Qantara and Deir Seryan,” the state-run National News Agency said.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2026