Lebanese people's right to confront occupation legitimate: Hezbollah

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
29 Jan 2025 14:16

Israeli strikes wounded 24 people in south Lebanon Tuesday despite a ceasefire in force for more than six weeks.

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Rescuers rush to the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh, on January 28, 2025 (AFP)

The head of Hezbollah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc in the Lebanese Parliament, MP Mohammad Raad, condemned the latest Israeli aggression on Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Zawtar al-Sharqiyah in southern Lebanon.

Israeli strikes wounded 24 people in south Lebanon Tuesday despite a ceasefire in force for more than six weeks, the Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed.

The first strike hit the southern town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, wounding 20 people, the ministry said, updating a previous toll of 14 injured.

It added that another strike on the neighboring town of Zawtar wounded four people.

At around 7:30 pm, an Israeli drone carried out "a strike with a guided missile targeting a small vegetable truck" in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said.

NNA later reported a second strike "less than two kilometers (a little over a mile) away from the first strike" on the Zawtar-Nabatieh road.

Raad described the attack as "yet another confirmation of the ongoing and continuous threat posed by the Zionist entity," adding that "the international community’s long-term disregard for the transgressions by this entity and its persistence in aggression has led it to the current state of rampage and violation of all laws."

He emphasized that this aggression "confirms our conviction and the conviction of all the free peoples in their legitimate right to shoulder the national and moral responsibility against the aggression."

"The right of our people in Lebanon to confront the occupation and its attacks is a legitimate and sacred right that they can exercise at the time and place they deem appropriate," the Lebanese lawmaker stressed.

He further pointed out that "it is only natural for the determination of our resistant people to align with the state’s efforts when it fulfills its duty to protect the nation and its people."

Raad's fellow lawmaker Ihab Hamadeh told Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that the Israeli violations in the south are acts of aggression.

"Our only option and top priority is armed Resistance, and what is happening in the south now is a matter for the Lebanese state to address," Hamadeh added.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the latest Israeli strikes, calling them "another violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a blatant breach of the ceasefire arrangement," according to a statement from his office.

He confirmed that he had contacted the head of the ceasefire monitoring committee, US Major General Jasper Jeffers, and urged him "to take a firm stance to ensure Israel complies with its obligations under international law."

The statements come as unarmed southern Lebanese continue to flock to their devastated towns and villages, some still controlled by the Israeli occupation forces, confronting the assaults of the raiding troops.

The Israeli occupation military is currently stationed in several southern Lebanese towns and villages near the border with occupied Palestine despite the expiration of a 60-day deadline for its complete withdrawal as per a ceasefire agreement that ended a two-month Israeli war on Lebanon.

But the White House released Sunday a statement announcing the extension of the ceasefire between Lebanon and "Israel" until February 18 this year.

Under the initial ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese Army is required to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon as the Israeli military completes its withdrawal over a 60-day period.

Hezbollah is obligated to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants strongly condemned the deliberate Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians seeking to return to their occupied villages within the timeframe specified by the ceasefire agreement.

The Ministry affirmed in a statement that Lebanon has fully adhered to the ceasefire agreement, while the Israeli side, "which is equally obligated to implement it, evades its commitments, particularly regarding the withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territories."

Beirut called on the sponsors of the agreement and all international parties concerned with stability and calm in southern Lebanon to condemn "Israel’s" attacks on civilians.

It also urged increased pressure to compel "Israel" to adhere to its obligations under the agreement and to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from all occupied Lebanese territories "so that the Lebanese Armed Forces can fully extend their authority over southern Lebanese lands in accordance with the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701."