Esmail Ghaani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday that Israeli forces must withdraw to their pre-war positions in Lebanon. [AP]
Esmail Ghaani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Wednesday that Israeli forces must withdraw to their pre-war positions in Lebanon. [AP]

Esmail Ghaani, commander of the Quds Force — the elite unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — said Wednesday that Israeli forces must withdraw to the positions they held in Lebanon before the war began.

In a statement that day, Ghaani said "the minimum demand of the Lebanese resistance (Hezbollah) is that the usurper regime (Israel) retreat to the positions it held before the '40-day war' began." The 40-day war refers to the current conflict with Iran, which began with US and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28.

The statement was the IRGC's response to the truce agreement reached Tuesday between Israel and Lebanon through US mediation. Although the two governments agreed to a new ceasefire that day, Israel has maintained — both before and after the deal — that it will continue airstrikes against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, separately from any arrangement with the Lebanese government. Hezbollah and Iran have pushed back against that position. Iran has also insisted in its end-of-war negotiations with the United States that Israel must halt hostile actions against Hezbollah as a precondition. The statement sets a benchmark: for the truce to hold in practice, Israel must pull its forces back to their pre-war positions. The Quds Force handles financial and military support for Iran's proxy network — the "Axis of Resistance" — which includes Hezbollah, Hamas and Iraqi militias.

Under the ceasefire agreement reached Tuesday, Hezbollah must halt all attacks and withdraw from southern Lebanon south of the Litani River, a zone where the Lebanese army is to assume control. However, because the deal was struck between Israel and the Lebanese government rather than Hezbollah directly, its effectiveness is uncertain — it remains unclear whether Hezbollah will accept a halt to its operations.

Ghaani added that "the mujahideen of Lebanon will soon see the fruits of their brave resistance," and said that "supporting the Lebanese resistance is the duty of us all, and ridding the Middle East of Israel is an ideal that Muslims can achieve."

Separately, the IRGC issued a statement the same day, saying "the foremost condition for accepting any ceasefire was, from the outset, a halt to fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon," and that "the enemy (Israel) must immediately stop its attacks on the Lebanese people and withdraw behind Lebanon's internationally recognized borders without delay."

The IRGC added that "the people of Lebanon are the pride of the Islamic community (ummah) and a symbol of the Middle East's dignity," and that "there can be no peace in the Middle East without a withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, appearing on Lebanon's Al Mayadeen television — which is sympathetic to Hezbollah — warned that "if Israel's aggression against Lebanon continues, our forces will be fully prepared to resume the war and strike targets inside Israel." He said Iran was continuing to exchange messages with the United States over halting the Lebanese offensive, but that "no substantive progress has been made." He added that resuming negotiations with Washington "depends on guarantees for Iran's rights and on whether the war in Lebanon stops," and that Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah would be a key factor shaping those talks.


kate01@heraldcorp.com