Sheikh Qassem: Hezbollah to keep confronting Israeli plots in region
Sheikh Naim Qassem delivered his first speech as the secretary-general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Wednesday, saying that the resistance movement will continue fighting to disrupt the Israeli regime’s plots across the entire region.
Sheikh Qassem warned that the regime and its Western and European supporters are engaged in a “major scheme” to dominate the region.
He told the audience in his televised address that his practical plan is to continue the work of the late leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Sheikh Qassem said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, himself, stated at the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon that it was for the sake of a “New Middle East.”
“We are facing a significant project in the region; this is a war that extends beyond Lebanon and Gaza; it is a global war against Resistance.”
Anti-resistance plots
“This Zionist war is American, European, and global in nature, seeking to eliminate Resistance in the region.”
“All forms of brutality and extermination are being used in this aggression to advance their project, and we must confront it rather than stand by and watch.”
“Final victory will be ours,” he said in the nearly hour-long video, with the flags of Lebanon and Hezbollah and an image of his assassinated predecessor Nasrallah behind him.
Qassem vowed that under his leadership, Hezbollah will continue the work of Nasrallah and keep fighting a war with Israel while following the same political path. “Helping Gaza is our duty and we will defend it to counter the Israeli threat for the entire region.”
‘Get out of our land’
Qassem warned Israel it would pay a heavy price if its forces remain in Lebanon, stressing that his group was ready for a prolonged conflict.
“Get out of our land to reduce your losses. If you stay, you will pay more than you have ever paid in your life,” Qassem said.
Hezbollah was founded in 1982 to confront Israeli occupation and its expansionist intentions and to liberate the occupied land, Qassem stated.
He also addressed criticisms that the Resistance in Gaza and Lebanon provoked the Israeli aggression. He urged the public not to forget 75 years of Israeli atrocities and the role of Resistance in ending the occupation of Lebanon.
“Some argue that Israel was provoked, but does Israel need a pretext? Have we forgotten 75 years of killing Palestinians, displacing them, seizing the land and sanctities, and committing massacres?”
“It is the Resistance that drove Israel out of our land in the past in cooperation with the army and the people. International resolutions did not expel Israel from our land. Rather, it was the Resistance,” he said.
The Hezbollah leader emphasized that Resistance in the region is fighting for a dignified future. “The legendary steadfastness of the Resistance in Gaza and Lebanon is an epic of dignity; it will shape the future of our generations.”
Sheikh Qassem clarified that Hezbollah is not fighting on behalf of any party but is defending Lebanon.
He also praised Iran’s support for the Lebanese resistance. Iran has never sought anything in return for its assistance, Sheikh Qassem stated.
“Iran understands the price it pays for its support of Resistance and has provided it—through martyr General Soleimani—with what no one else has ever offered,” he said.