Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem warned Israelis on Tuesday that the only solution to the current war is a ceasefire that would pave the way for residents of northern Israel to return, vowing that his group will not be defeated.
“I am saying to the Israeli home front: The solution is a ceasefire,” Qassem said in his third address since the Israeli strike killed former leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“I’m not speaking from a position of weakness, because if Israel doesn’t want (a ceasefire), we will continue,” he said.
“The resistance (Hezbollah) will not be defeated because this is its land,” he said.
“After a ceasefire through an indirect agreement”, residents of northern Israel “will return to the north and other steps will be taken”, Qassim said.
“Since the Israeli enemy has targeted the whole of Lebanon, we have the right to target any location in Israel from a defensive position,” he said, “be it the center, the north or the south.” “We will choose the point that seems appropriate to us”.
Nearly a year of cross-border firing between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a full-scale war on September 23, when Israel heavily bombed Hezbollah strongholds in south and eastern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israel later announced it had launched a ground operation in south Lebanon, and Hezbollah fighters and Israel forces are clashing along the border, with the Iran-backed group repeatedly saying it faced Israeli infiltration attempts. Is.
In a pre-recorded video released on social media, Qassem is seen sitting at a desk with small Lebanese and Hezbollah flags and a framed image of Nasrallah, a stark contrast to the deputy prime minister’s two previous, darkly lit speeches. Because Nasrallah was assassinated on September 27. ,
Qassem said his group had begun “the equation of hurting the enemy” by repeatedly targeting the Haifa area of northern Israel and warned that “as the war continues, uninhabited Israeli towns will be destroyed.” The numbers will increase”.
“More than two crore people will be in the danger zone,” he said.
Hezbollah opened a “support front” from Lebanon to Gaza, and launched cross-border attacks into Israel the day after the war broke out in the Gaza Strip following its Palestinian ally Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
