Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that his group would abide
by any ceasefire brokered by the United Nations, but it would continue to fight
until Israel's withdrawal.
"The group would abide by a ceasefire brokered by UN chief Kofi Annan or an
agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel," Nasrallah said in a televised
speech on the group's al-Manar television.
He said that Hezbollah would cooperate with Lebanese and UN troops to be
deployed in south Lebanon in line with a UN Security Council resolution.
The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution that calls
for Israel's withdrawal and authorizes an increase of the existing UN force in
Lebanon to 15,000 troops to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon
as Israel withdraws.
"We have said before that we agree on the deployment of the Lebanese army
supported by UNIFIL forces," he said, while vowing to fight against Israeli
troops operating in south Lebanon.
He also said that Hezbollah had some reservations over the resolution, which
considered Hezbollah as instigator but did not mention Israel's massacres in the
conflict, including killing of civilians and destruction of Lebanon's
infrastructure.
As for an expanded Israeli incursion into south Lebanon, he said that Israel
needed a military achievement before the war ended, because it realized that it
did not achieve any of goals.
Israel has been battling Hezbollah since the Shiite group abducted two
Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid one month ago.