No ceasefire in Lebanon without one in Gaza: Hezbollah deputy chief
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The Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah stresses that Lebanon would not serve the Israeli occupation by agreeing to a ceasefire in southern Lebanon without a ceasefire in Gaza.
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Hezbollah Deputy Secretary Naim Qassem gives a speech during a rally in the Beirut, Lebanon, on October 13, 2023 (AFP)
Hezbollah's support for the Gaza Strip has hindered the Israeli occupation's war plans in Palestine and Lebanon in the present and for the future, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Saturday.
"Those who fail to see the future, who are ignorant of this enemy, will not be able to understand the facts that indicate that this support will have benefits beyond supporting Gaza and beyond protecting Lebanon; it extends to forming a real deterrent force that confronts Israel and teaches it that it cannot cross the line," Sheikh Qassem underlined.
The initiatives being proposed for Lebanon and southern Lebanon are not viable unless they are based on a ceasefire, for that is the only means of addressing the core issue, he said.
"Whoever comes up with an initiative that entails a ceasefire in the south to relieve Israel so that it can bolster its positions in Gaza is calling on us to participate in supporting the Israeli enemy," he underlined.
"We are with Gaza and Palestine. Not with Israel. So let the war in Gaza stop first, and then it will stop in Lebanon," he said. "The threats that Israel will attack Lebanon make us more convinced of the righteousness of our confrontation and further bolster our position."
Only 3% of Hezbollah's stockpile
Sheikh Qassem cited Israeli reports that Hezbollah used only 3% of its military stockpile during about 7 months of the war, which yielded "great effects in terms of the displacement of settlers, inflicting great losses on Israel, exhausting its army, and giving a great example of steadfastness and sacrifice."
He also addressed Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant, who had underlined that the main goal was returning the settlers of northern occupied Palestine to their settlements and that the coming period would be decisive, saying: "The settlers of the north cannot be returned. This war will push their return further and further away," and may even end their settlement of the north altogether.
Sheikh Qassem went on to emphasize that "the continuation of the aggression against Lebanon will not bring back the settlers of the north." Instead, its expansion "will complicate life for them more and more," calling on the world to wake up and stop the war on the Gaza Strip.
"There is a decision by Hezbollah to respond proportionately to the Israeli aggression so that any Israeli expansion of the aggression would be met with a similar, fierce response from Hezbollah and the Resistance in Lebanon," the Hezbollah deputy chief underlined. "This decision is final."
Proportionate response
"When Israel attacked one of our comrades in Sarafand, the response was an operation that involved three kamikaze drones that struck the headquarters of the Golani Brigade and the Egoz Unit in the Shraga
it was responded with an attack by three swooping marches that targeted the Golani Brigade headquarters and the headquarters of the Egoz Unit at the Shraga barracks in the northern city of Akka."
The Israelis have reported that about "200,000 Israeli settlers entered shelters in the north during this operation, and that is only because of three drones. So you can imagine what the results will be if they overstep further."
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah said Tuesday that it engaged the headquarters of two Israeli military units in southern occupied Palestine in response to the assassination of one of its fighters in a southern Lebanese town earlier.
In a statement, Hezbollah said its Resistance fighters launched a combined aerial attack using diversionary and suicide drones and engaged the headquarters of the Golani Brigade and the Egoz Unit 621 at Shraga barracks north of the occupied city of Akka, hitting its targets precisely.
Reuters highlighted that this was Hezbollah's "deepest attack" into occupied Palestinian territory since the start of the Gaza war on October 7.
The Lebanese Resistance group mentioned that the operation came in response to the Israeli aggression that targeted the town of Adloun and the assassination of one of its fighters.
Prior to the operation, Hezbollah mourned its Resistance fighter Hussein Ali Azkoul (Hadi) from the town of Qalaway and a resident of the town of Adloun in southern Lebanon.
Earlier, Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of Muhammad Khalil Attiya, codenamed Sajid, born in 1994, from the town of Qana and a resident of the town of Sarafand in southern Lebanon, on the path to al-Quds.
