Naim Qassem, the new leader of the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, said Wednesday that the group was open to a ceasefire with Israel if the two parties manage to agree on “suitable” conditions, AFP reported. He said no viable ceasefire agreement had yet been proposed.

Qassem, who was named Hezbollah secretary-general on October 29, has not said that a ceasefire in Lebanon should be conditional on an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza, a position the group previously held.

“If the Israelis decide that they want to end the aggression, we say that we accept it, but under the conditions that we consider appropriate and suitable,” Qassem said in his first pre-recorded speech since becoming became the new leader of Hezbollah.

Qassem said Hezbollah “will not ask for a ceasefire” and stressed that political efforts to broker a peace deal had not been successful.

“No project has been proposed with Israeli agreement that we can discuss,” he said.

Qassem replaced Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of the militant group, who was killed during an Israeli airstrike on Beirut on September 27. Nasrallah led the group for 32 years.

Hezbollah is locked in a conflict with Israel, which has stepped up strikes against its strongholds in Lebanon and sent ground forces across the border last month.

On October 22, Israel said it had killed Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s presumed successor, in an airstrike on Beirut three weeks earlier.

Qassem acknowledged that Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah leaders was a “painful” setback for the group, AFP reported.

He said the group “started to get back on its feet by filling in the gaps, appointing alternative leaders and starting to work to organize everything.”

Qassem added that Hezbollah could continue fighting “for days, weeks and months.”

“Leave our lands to cut your losses,” Qassem said, addressing Israel. “If you stay, you will pay more than you ever have in your life. »

“My work program is a continuation of the work program of our leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” he added, promising to continue “the war plan that he developed.”

Qassem’s comments followed Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen’s announcement that Israel’s security cabinet was reviewing the terms of a truce with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

“There are discussions, I think it will still take time,” Cohen told Israeli public radio.

As Israel’s Channel 12 reported, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with ministers on the evening of October 29 to discuss Israel’s demands for a 60-day truce in Lebanon.

The demands include the withdrawal of Hezbollah from areas north of the Litani River (about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border), the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border, an international mechanism to enforce the truce and the assurance that Israel could act freely in response to threats.

US President Joe Biden’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and special envoy Amos Hochstein are expected to travel to the region on Wednesday to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to discuss terms of the ceasefire. fire with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and Israel exchanged almost daily strikes for more than 10 months, amid Tel Aviv’s war against the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

The attacks also displaced thousands of Lebanese citizens.

The ongoing bombings in Lebanon are seen as a significant escalation of geopolitical tensions in West Asia.

The Israeli military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Since then, Israel has carried out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza, murder more than 43,000 people including nearly 16,700 children.