Katz says Qassem 'playing with fire' that will 'burn Lebanon'

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah's defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon after the group's leader Naim Qassem rejected proposed direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.

Lebanon and Israel's U.S. ambassadors held two meetings in Washington in recent weeks, the first of their kind in decades.

The first meeting led to a truce in the Israel-Hezbollah war that began last month. The two sides have officially been at war since 1948.

"Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and the fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon," Katz told U.N. envoy to Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, according to a statement issued by his office.

"If the Lebanese government continues to take cover under the wing of the Hezbollah terrorist organization -- fire will break out and engulf the cedars of Lebanon."

Katz's remarks came shortly after Qassem declared that direct talks between Israel and Lebanon amounted to a "grave sin".

Katz said that President Joseph Aoun was "gambling with the future of Lebanon", adding that Israel would not accept a situation in which a ceasefire in Lebanon coexists with continued attacks on Israeli forces and communities in northern Israel.

He reiterated that "the Lebanese government must ensure that Hezbollah is disarmed, first of all south of the Litani up to the Blue Line, and afterwards throughout all of Lebanon," referring to the river that cuts through southern Lebanon.

Aoun on Monday said that the direct talks with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah while accusing those who drew Lebanon into war of "treason", in an implicit rebuke of the Iran-backed armed group.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes.