Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qamati has said that his group was not concerned by Lebanon’s planned direct talks with Israel, labelling them a failure, AFP reports.

In a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Qamati said his group was “not concerned with the negotiations being conducted by the state”, saying they were “a failure, weak, defeated… and submissive negotiations”.

“The resistance is the one that imposes. We are the land… and we are the ones who draw up the decisions, not those who have an official status,” he said, adding that while his group did not mind Beirut “coordinating with us … not in this way that leads to surrender”.