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Hezbollah backs Lebanese efforts for cease-fire: Sheikh Qassem
“We support the political efforts that (Lebanese Parliament Speaker) Nabih Berri is undertaking towards a cease-fire,” Qassem said in a televised speech, according to AFP.
After nearly a year of cross-border clashes, Israel intensified its bombing campaign on September 23, killing more than 1,100 people and displacing over a million people since, according to official figures.
A massive Israeli strike killed the party’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27.
“Once a cease-fire is achieved, diplomacy can look into all the other details,” Qassem said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Berri, a powerful ally of Hezbollah, have for days been striving for an immediate truce between Israel and Hezbollah, independent of Gaza truce efforts.
Qassem, who has taken over until a new Hezbollah leader is announced, said the group’s military capacities and leadership were still strong despite the heavy Israeli bombardment.
“The party’s leadership and the resistance (Hezbollah) are meticulously organized... We have overcome painful blows,” he said.
“I would like to reassure you that our capabilities are fine,” he said, speaking of “hundreds of rockets” fired at Israel.
Since the Gaza Strip war began a year ago, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in near-daily cross-border clashes, with Hezbollah saying it is acting in solidarity with its ally Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have stressed the need to secure the north near the border with Lebanon so evacuated settlers can return home.
“(Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu says he wants to bring back” the displaced to their homes in northern Israel, Qassem said.
But “we say that many more residents will be forced to flee” their homes, he warned.
“God willing, we will defeat Israel and it will not achieve its objectives. The Zionists were stunned after their army failed to advance on the ground in south Lebanon,” he stated.
Qassem added that an election for a new Hezbollah secretary-general would be held “according to the regulations” and the result would then be announced, but he did not give a clear timeline.