Despite the deaths of its leader and many senior Commanders, Hezbollah’s Deputy Chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem, has pledged that the Lebanese armed group is ready to meet an Israeli ground offensive.
In his first address since the killing of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem asserted that Israel has not hit Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
He insisted that the Iran-linked armed group will continue to fight despite the setbacks suffered during the bombardment of Lebanon in recent days.
According to Qassem, Hezbollah’s operations have continued at the same pace and more since Nasrallah’s killing.
He noted that the group is following up on the alternative plans that Nasrallah put forward.
“We are quite ready, if the Israelis want a ground incursion, the resistance forces are ready for that.”
Sheikh Naim Qassem
He added that Hezbollah will install a new leadership soon via “internal mechanisms.”
The choice of new leadership is clear, Qassem continued, without offering further details.
Also, the Deputy Chief said that Hezbollah will continue with its main goals despite Israel’s aim of creating chaos with aggression and massacres against civilians in Lebanon.
“Israel is committing massacres in all areas of Lebanon until there is no house left without traces of Israeli aggression in it.
“Israel attacks civilians, ambulances, children and the elderly. It does not fight fighters, but rather commits massacres.”
Sheikh Naim Qassem
Moreover, Qassem underlined the role of the US, which he called “a partner with Israel, through unlimited military support – culturally, politically, financially.”
“We will win, just as we won in our confrontation with Israel in 2006,” Qassem asserted.
More than a 1000 people have been killed in the past two weeks in a wave of ferocious Israeli attacks mostly on southern and eastern Lebanon.
The dramatic escalation has started since Israel shifted its focus from fighting in Gaza to its northern frontier where it traded nearly daily cross fire with Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza.
Israel’s stated aimed in its offensive into Lebanon is allowing the return of tens of thousands of Israeli civilians to their homes in the country’s north.
For the first time since stepping up its attacks on Lebanon, Israel on Monday, September 30, 2024, struck a central area of the capital Beirut signalling further potential escalation towards an all-out war.
No Iranian Forces To Be Deployed To Lebanon
Meanwhile, Iranian foreign ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanani stated that Tehran will not deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel despite Israel’s bombardments of both.
“There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Kanani stated, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression.”
Hezbollah’s insistence that it can defend Lebanon was supported by backer Iran, which appears wary of the risk of wider regional war that any direct confrontation with Israel would carry.
Also, Kanani stressed that no “criminal acts” of Israel will be left unanswered, adding that “anyone who stands against Iran’s national security will undoubtedly receive a response from Iran.”
“We do not make empty promises, we have shown in practice that we stand firmly against aggressors who intend to violate Iran’s national security, and our response will be regretful for them.
“Iran will not leave any aggressive actions of the Zionist regime, which target Iran’s interests, unanswered.”
Nasser Kanani
He asserted that the Zionist regime will not go unpunished for the crimes it has committed and Iran will take appropriate retaliatory measures.
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