HEZBOLLAH will not abide by any agreements that may result from the direct Lebanon-Israel talks in the United States, which it firmly opposes, a senior member of the Lebanese resistance group’s political council has warned.

Wafiq Safa was speaking on the eve of expected talks in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US. 

It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, meet for direct talks.

Mr Safa said: “We are not interested in or concerned” with the talks. “We are not bound by what they agree to,” he added, speaking next to a cemetery as an Israeli drone buzzed overhead.

Lebanese officials are looking to agree a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The Israel military has already cleared southern Lebanon of much of its population, an action that many experts have branded ethnic cleansing — a crime against humanity under international law. 

Israel has also said that it intends to occupy the area in what it calls a necessary security measure. This would also violate international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the aim of the Washington talks is Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

Separately, the US has appeared to renege on the Iran ceasefire deal mediated by Pakistan by insisting, following Israeli pressure, that Lebanon was not included in the agreement.

Hours after Tehran and Washington announced the truce last Wednesday, Israel carried out more than 100 strikes across Lebanon, including in densely packed residential and commercial areas of central Beirut.

Intense fighting between Hezbollah and Israel troops has continued in southern Lebanon.

The war has displaced more than one million people in Lebanon and killed more than 2,000, including more than 500 women, children and medical workers.