Qasem says group prepared for ‘long war’, directly threatens Netanyahu
Oct. 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The new leader of the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah, Naim Qasem, assured this Wednesday that he will maintain the “program” launched by his predecessor, Hasan Nasrallah, who died at the end of September due to an Israeli bombing, and has stressed that the group “will win” in “a war that has been imposed” by the Israeli authorities.
Qasem, who has expressed his gratitude for being named at the head of the group – of which he was ‘number two’ since 1991 – has paid tribute to Nasrallah and his cousin, Hashem Safiedín, favorite to lead the group and also died in a second bombing carried out at the beginning of October by Israel against Beirut.
“I thank the party for giving me its confidence in the face of this great responsibility,” he said in his first speech after his appointment on Tuesday, statements in which he assured that Nasrallah will continue to be “the symbol of the resistance.” as reported by the Lebanese television network Al Manar, linked to Hezbollah.
“My program will be an extension of that of my predecessor. We will maintain the war program that has been drawn up to the present,” defended Qasem, who has reiterated his support for Hezbollah’s decision to “open a support front” to the Strip. of Gaza on the border with Israel.
In this sense, he stressed that “support for Gaza was a duty in the face of Israel’s threat to the entire region.” “We should not be asked why we support Gaza. The rest should be asked why they do not,” he maintained, before delving into the fact that “Israel does not need an excuse to attack Lebanon.”
“Did Israel need a pretext to attack and kill the Palestinians and steal their land?” he asked, before recalling that Israel already invaded Lebanon “before the creation of Hezbollah” to “put an end to the Palestinian resistance and all resistance”, in reference to the invasion between 1982 and 2000.
“International resolutions did not expel Israel from our lands. The resistance did,” Qasem stressed, in reference to the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, although he denounced that since resolution 1701 of the United Nations Security Council, approved in 2006, there have been “39,000 rapes by land and sea” by Israeli troops.
For this reason, he insisted that “the war in Lebanon and Gaza is an Israeli, American, European and global war”, before noting that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has spoken about “a new Middle East” and that some of his ministers “have said they want to build settlements in southern Lebanon.”
“We blocked the Israeli project through resistance,” said Qasem, who elaborated that the Lebanese “do not want war, but they are prepared after it is imposed on them and they will win it.” “We only attack military bases, while Israel only attacks civilians,” he argued.
“We fight on our land and liberate our occupied territories. Nobody asks us for anything or forces us to do anything,” said the new leader of Hezbollah, who also applauded Tehran’s support, although he has argued that Iranian forces do not fight in Lebanon and who limit themselves to “supporting the project” of the group.
In this way, he pointed out that “Iran is aware of the price it is paying for its support to the resistance” and has praised that the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “courageously carries the flag and gives all the necessary support in support for the mujahideen”, referring to members of Hezbollah.
WARNS THAT ISRAEL “WILL PAY AN UNPRECEDENTED PRICE”
“Hezbollah has a true history of jihad and is stronger every year because it has more experience,” said Qasem, who added that the Lebanese group “has carried out all the preparations for the possibility that the long war”, given the failure of efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement.
On the other hand, he has acknowledged that the explosion of thousands of communication devices by Israel left nearly 4,000 victims, including militiamen and civilians, although he has insisted that the group “has managed to find all the replacements in the vacant positions.” , what is visible on the ground”.
“Just one of our fighters is worth ten of your equipped soldiers, with their tanks and weapons,” said Qasem, who stated that “the enemy is afraid and changes its statements and objectives (in Lebanon).” “The capacity of the resistance to create platforms despite the continuous bombings is exceptional,” he applauded.
“The enemy must know that bombing our towns and cities will not make us withdraw. The resistance is strong and was able to launch a drone against Netanyahu’s home,” he recalled. “Netanyahu survived that time, but perhaps his time is yet to come,” he threatened.
For this reason, he has told Israel that it will suffer “an inevitable defeat” in the fights with the group. “The land is ours and our people are united with us,” he defended, before insisting that Israeli troops “must leave” the country to “reduce their losses.”
Otherwise, he reiterated that the Israeli Army “will pay an unprecedented price”, before highlighting that “Hezbollah will emerge stronger and victorious from this confrontation.” “We will not beg for a ceasefire and we will stop the war on our terms,” he argued. “The enemy’s losses are enormous and they will be forced to stop this aggression,” he added.
“We will continue to confront the aggression. If the enemy wants to stop it, we will accept the conditions that we consider appropriate. The basis of all negotiations is that there be a ceasefire first,” said the Hezbollah leader, who has told his militiamen that “the era of defeats is over.”
The Israeli Army unleashed a new invasion of Lebanon on October 1 after several weeks of intense bombings and attacks against the country, including the coordinated explosion of thousands of communication devices, after more than eleven months of fighting with Hezbollah in the border area. .
The Government of Lebanon has put the death toll at around 2,800 and around 12,800 injured due to the attacks carried out by Israel since October 8, 2023, after the militia party began firing projectiles in support of the Palestinian groups following the attacks carried out the day before against Israeli territory.
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