Qassem tells Israelis solution is ceasefire, threatens to target all of Israel
Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem warned Israelis on Tuesday that the only solution to the current war is a ceasefire, saying the Iran-backed group would not be defeated.
"Since the Israeli enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right from a defensive position to target any place" in Israel, "whether the center, the north or the south", Qassem said in a televised speech, adding "I am telling the Israeli home front: the solution is a ceasefire... the resistance (Hezbollah) will not be defeated because this is its land".
Qassem said that the group is now focused on “hurting the enemy,” exemplified by targeting the Israeli city of Haifa and areas beyond it, including Tel Aviv.
The pre-recorded speech marked his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27.
“We will defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands,” Qassem said. He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking a “new Middle East” aligned with Israeli and American interests.
He urged Hezbollah supporters to remain steadfast amid Israeli attacks. “Our hope for victory is limitless,” he said. “I give you good news that we are the ones who will hold the enemy’s reins and return it to the fold.”
Addressing Israelis, Qassem said that a cease-fire is the only solution to return residents of northern Israel to their homes. “We are not seeking a cease-fire because we are weak,” he said.
If Israel continues its bombardment and ground invasion in Lebanon, he said that Hezbollah’s strikes will expand over a geographically wider area and “more than 2 million will be in danger.”
Israeli officials have said the operation in Lebanon is intended to push back Hezbollah and return displaced Israelis to their homes.
Qassem linked the ongoing conflict in Lebanon to the broader struggle of the Palestinians, and to the ongoing war in Gaza.
“We cannot separate Lebanon from Palestine, or Palestine from the world,” he said.
15 October 2024, 16:18
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If Lebanon continues to fire rockets into Israel Lebanese cities will be turned into rubble. Qassem wants a ceasefire so Lebanon can regroup and resume its attacks against Israel. When Lebanon seeks a long-term cease fire -- long term peace -- the war it started will end.
15 October 2024, 17:05
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Lock him up today before he causes more damage to thousands of Lebanese. Is he going to rebuild the houses and feed the displaced? or simply buy more arms and rockets to protect Iran's tyrants like Houthis while people hungry with no medicine or dignity? The army should immediately confiscate all Hizb properties, empty Hizb arm depots, and use proceed to feed and house the displaced. Enough of these Hizb criminal leadership who killed Hariri, Tueni, Shath, Slim and dozens others to occupy the Country, control its institutions, impose political mafia and Vichy government, and transform the South into Iranian rocket base. Cedar Revolution II is coming to put all these criminals in Jail!
15 October 2024, 17:49
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The late Lebanese officials of Hezbollah used to have some say when it came to decisions related to issues in Lebanon. But since a fortnight ago with the successive arrivals of the Iranian envoys and the announcement that a Quods Force commander is now in charge of Hezbollah's operations in south Lebanon, that's no longer the case. Here Naim Qassem was reading the Iranian orders of battle nothing more. This war is now between Iran and Israel, fought on the Lebanese soil with Lebanese blood.
