The United States announced on Wednesday that Lebanon and Israel had agreed ​to implement a ceasefire contingent on Iran-backed Hezbollah ceasing fire and evacuating its fighters ​from areas of southern Lebanon near the border.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, whose ⁠Lebanese Muslim group is not a party to the talks, said the negotiations were ​shameless, rejecting the Washington declaration as “a roadmap for the annihilation of a section of the Lebanese ​people and the enslavement of the rest.”

“As long as the occupation exists, the resistance will continue,” he said in a written statement.

Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire ​in support of Tehran as it came under US-Israeli attack. The war has ground on ​despite several ceasefires declared by Washington since April.

The war has become a sticking point in diplomacy towards resolving ‌the ⁠regional conflict. Tehran has demanded an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as part of any deal.

Qassem said a ceasefire must include southern Lebanon, where Israel has seized a self-declared security zone, which it says aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attack.

Qassem said that towns in ​northern Israel would not ​be secure “as long as ⁠our villages are unsafe, bombed, destroyed, and our people are being killed.”

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force - which established Hezbollah in ​1982 - said “the minimum demand of the resistance” is Israel’s withdrawal to ​positions it ⁠held before the war began and Israeli forces invaded the south.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier on Thursday said Israel would continue to strike Lebanon for the time being. The Israeli military, in ⁠a ​warning to residents of the south, said it was continuing ​to target Hezbollah facilities.