Battlefield, not political action will end war: Hezbollah chief
Hezbollah’s new chief said on Wednesday that only one thing will end the conflict between the resistance movement and Israel, which is the battlefield not political action.
“What will stop this... war is the battlefield,” Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday.
Qassem said the steps taken by Israel aimed at defeating Hezbollah and occupying Lebanon will not succeed due to Hezbollah’s resilience and commitment to defending homeland.
“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight, Qassem said.
He also said nowhere in Israel would be “off-limits” to the group’s attacks.
Qassem also stated that Hezbollah has been preparing for such confrontations since the 2006 July war, enhancing their training, armament, and operational capabilities.
Regarding possible cease-fire negotiations, he said there will be a road to indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state when Israel stops its aggression.
Referring to US presidential election, Qassem said the results of the US presidential election will have no impact on any possible cease-fire deal.
“We don’t base our expectations for a halt of the aggression on political developments... Whether (Kamala) Harris wins or (Donald) Trump wins, it means nothing to us,” he said in a pre-recorded speech before Trump’s win was announced.
The speech was Qassem’s second since he was named Hezbollah secretary-general last week.
He replaced the movement’s decades-long chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in a massive Israeli strike on the group’s south Beirut bastion.
Israel has also been targeting Lebanon since October 2023, when it launched the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been responding to the aggression with retaliatory operations.
Since then, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Israeli bombardment. Almost two-thirds of them have been killed since Israel intensified its air aggression on Lebanon six weeks ago.