Naim Qassem: ‘Hezbollah Achieved a Great Victory…’

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem confirmed that the party achieved a great victory over the Israeli occupation, and stressed the continuation of support for Palestine in various forms, and presented five pledges for the post-war period, including assistance in reconstruction, and completing the contract of constitutional institutions, most notably the election of a president for the republic.

On the third and fourth pledges, Qassem said; Our national work will be in cooperation with all forces that believe that the homeland belongs to all its sons, and we will also cooperate and dialogue with all forces that want to build a unified Lebanon on the basis of the Taif Agreement.

In his first speech after the ceasefire in Lebanon he said: “I decided to announce as a result, officially and clearly, we’ve one a great victory that exceeds the victory of  July 2006.”

Qassem added: “We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah, we won because we prevented it from ending the resistance and/or weakening it…”

Qassem also attributed the victory to the long duration of the Israeli aggression, the ferocity of the battle, and the sacrifices made by the Lebanese, in addition to the American and Western support provided to Israel.

Sheikh Qassem also pointed out that Israel suffered heavy losses in its battle with Lebanon, as a result of the strikes directed at it by Hezbollah, and hundreds of thousands were displaced from northern Israel, and because of the resistance’s steadfastness, Israel’s horizon was blocked.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General added in his speech that in light of what he called the defeat surrounding Israel, the ceasefire agreement came, which he said was “not a treaty or a new agreement that requires the signature of countries, but rather a program of procedures related to the implementation of Resolution 1701.”

He said that the agreement confirms the withdrawal of the Israeli army from all the places it occupied and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the Litani River to assume its responsibility for security and for expelling the enemy from the region.” He also confirmed that Hezbollah will coordinate with the Lebanese army.

Sheikh Qassem also noted in his speech that “the agreement was made under the umbrella of Lebanese sovereignty, and we agreed to it with our heads held high in our right to defend ourselves.”

On 27 November, 2024, a ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and the Israeli army came into effect after months of mutual military operations between the two parties due to Hezbollah’s support for the Gaza front after Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa.

On the other hand, he stressed the continuation of the Lebanese resistance’s support for Palestine, and said: “Our support for Palestine will not stop and be in different forms.” In the same context, he recalled when Hezbollah began supporting the resistance in the Gaza Strip, it repeated it did not want war, but confirmed that it was ready if it was imposed on it.

Next stage

Sheikh Qassem spoke about the next stage, and made five pledges for the post-war stage, including assistance in reconstruction, and completing the constitutional institutions, most notably the election of a president for the republic, expressing his hope to achieve this on the scheduled date of 9 January, and said that the party’s presence in political and social life will be effective and influential in keeping with the country’s circumstances.

Regarding the third and fourth pledges, Qassem said: “Our national work will be in cooperation with all forces that believe that the homeland belongs to all its sons, and we will cooperate and speak with all forces that want to build a unified Lebanon on the basis of the Taif Agreement,” adding that “to those who bet on weakening the party, we regret that their bets failed.”

In his speech, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah also thanked Iran, Yemen and Iraq, according to Al Jazeera.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Amnesty Condemns Netanyahu’s Visit to Hungry

Responding to reports that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has invited and plans to host Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Hungary on Wednesday, Erika Guevara-Rosas the head of Global Research, Advocacy and Policy of Amnesty International said:

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is an alleged war criminal, who is accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally attacking civilians and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.  As a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Hungary must arrest him if he travels to the country and hand him over to the Court. Any trip he takes to an ICC member state that does not end in his arrest would embolden Israel to commit further crimes against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Netanyahu’s reported visit should be seen as a cynical effort to undermine the ICC and its work, and is an insult to the victims of these crimes who are looking to the Court for justice. Hungary’s invitation shows contempt for international law and confirms that alleged war criminals wanted by the ICC are welcome on the streets of a European Union member state.

“Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary must not become a bellwether for the future of human rights in Europe. European and global leaders must end their shameful silence and inaction, and call on Hungary to arrest Netanyahu during a visit which would make a mockery of the suffering of Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, its war crimes in other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its entrenched system of apartheid against all Palestinians whose rights it controls.

“Amnesty International calls on the ICC Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute all Israel’s crimes. Hungary should equally do so by applying universal jurisdiction principles. Powerful leaders, like Netanyahu, accused by the ICC of war crimes and crimes against humanity, must no longer enjoy the prospect of perpetual impunity.”

“The ICC was established to ensure accountability for victims of genocide and other crimes under international law, and so that crimes which shock the human conscience would “never again” be accompanied by impunity. In ‘bringing power to justice’, the ICC is now facing a global backlash from powerful leaders seeking to undermine the international rule of law and stamp out the prospect of accountability for the most powerful.”

Background

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as al-Qassam brigades commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Since then, leaders from ICC member states France, Germany, Italy, Hungary and Poland have stated or implied that they would not arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he travelled to their respective countries. The United States has also enacted sanctions against the ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan.

A cornerstone principle of the ICC’s founding Rome Statute is that all individuals subject to ICC arrest warrants must be arrested and surrendered to the Court without recourse to immunity when they are within the jurisdiction of ICC member states, including on their territory.

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