Naim Qassem says his group won’t give up or lay down weapons in response to Israeli threats, regardless of strain on the group to disarm.
The Hezbollah chief says the Lebanese group stays open to peace, however it won’t disarm or again down from confronting Israel till it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon.
“We can’t be requested to melt our stance or lay down arms whereas [Israeli] aggression continues,” Naim Qassem instructed hundreds of supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday for Ashura, an vital day within the Shia Muslim calendar.
Ashura commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, through which Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shia Muslims, the day symbolises resistance in opposition to tyranny and injustice.
The Beirut space, a Hezbollah stronghold, was draped in yellow banners and echoed with chants of resistance as Qassem delivered his speech, flanked by portraits of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in September final 12 months.
Israel launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 – a day after Palestinian group Hamas, which counts Hezbollah as an ally, stormed the Israeli territory, killing some 1,100 folks and taking about 250 others captive.
The Hamas assault was instantly adopted by Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has killed greater than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them girls and kids. The Israeli genocidal marketing campaign was accompanied by a brutal blockade on entry of meals and medical help, bringing the enclave’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of hunger.
Israel’s simultaneous assault on Lebanon escalated right into a full-scale struggle by September 2024, killing greater than 4,000 folks, together with a lot of Hezbollah’s high management, and displacing almost 1.4 million, in keeping with official knowledge. A United States-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the struggle in November.
Nonetheless, for the reason that ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy 5 strategic border factors in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily air strikes that it says purpose to forestall Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. These strikes have killed some 250 folks and wounded 600 others since November, in keeping with Lebanon’s Ministry of Well being.
“How will you anticipate us to not stand agency whereas the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the 5 factors, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Qassem mentioned in his video deal with.
“We won’t be part of legitimising the occupation in Lebanon and the area. We won’t settle for normalisation,” he added, in an obvious response to Israeli Overseas Minister Gideon Saar saying his authorities was “” in such a transfer.
Qassem mentioned Hezbollah’s weapons wouldn’t be on the negotiating desk except Israel “withdraws from the occupied territories, stops its aggression, releases the prisoners, and reconstruction begins”.
“Solely then,” he mentioned, “will we be prepared for the second stage, which is to debate nationwide safety and defence technique.”
On Saturday, Israeli drones carried out four strikes on southern Lebanese towns, killing one individual and wounding a number of others. A lot of the Israeli assaults have focused areas close to the border, however Israeli warplanes have additionally hit residential neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern districts, inflicting panic and mass evacuations.
Qassem’s speech got here because the US envoy to Turkiye and Syria, Tom Barrack, was anticipated in Beirut on Monday. Lebanese officers say the US has demanded that Hezbollah disarm by the top of the 12 months. Israel has warned it’s going to proceed placing Lebanon till the group is disarmed.
However Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly known as on the US and its allies to rein in Israel’s assaults, noting that disarming Hezbollah is a “delicate, delicate difficulty”.