'Israel' defence minister warns Hezbollah chief 'playing with fire'

• 'Israeli' Defence Minister Israel Katz warns Hezbollah’s defiance could bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon after the group rejected proposed direct talks with 'Israel'.

'Israeli' Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah's defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon after the group's leader rejected proposed direct talks between the two countries.

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

"Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and the fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon," Katz told UN 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 organisation -- 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 Lebanese 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.