Hezbollah’s New Chief: ‘We Will Not Retreat’

The new Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said in his first speech, after becoming secretary-general he “will continue on the path of the martyr Hassan Nasrallah, and implement the war plan he developed with the leadership of the resistance, and deal according to the developments of each stage.”

In a videotaped speech, Wednesday, Qassem stressed “supporting Gaza is a duty to confront the danger of the occupation on the entire region from the gate of Gaza, and its people as they have the right to be supported by everyone. 

The question should not be directed to the party about the reasons for its support for Gaza, but to others about the reasons for their lack of support of the people of Gaza,” he added.

Hezbollah “does not fight on behalf of anyone, but to protect Lebanon, liberate our land, and support Gaza,” stressing that “Iran supports our project and does not want anything from us, and our convictions are shared,” he stressed.

“For 11 months, we said we do not want war, but we are ready if it is imposed on us, and we in Lebanon do not fight on behalf of Iran or to implement its project, but to protect and liberate our land,” Qassem continued. 

Qassem described the head of the Hamas political bureau  martyr Yahya Sinwar as “an icon of heroism for Palestine and the free people of the world, and he resisted until his last breath.”

“The Lebanese resistance was created to liberate the land and confront the occupation and its expansionist intentions,” noting “the resistance expelled the occupation from Lebanon, not international resolutions,” he added.

Qassem stated “the field proves and confirms the party’s recovery from the attacks it was subjected to because it is a large and cohesive institution with great capabilities and a true jihadist history, and it was growing stronger year after year and gaining more experience.”

Qassem stressed “the enemy must know that its bombing of our villages and cities will not make us retreat, and the resistance is strong and was able to deliver a drone to Netanyahu’s room.”

Qassem criticized western collusion, saying: “This war is not only [Israeli], but an [Israeli]-American-European global war in which all the capabilities to eliminate the resistance and the peoples of the region are used in all brutality, genocide and criminality.”

Since September 23, the occupation forces have expanded the scope of the genocide they have been committing in Gaza since October 7, 2023, to include most areas of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, through unprecedentedly violent and intense airstrikes, and have also begun a ground incursion into the south, disregarding international warnings and UN resolutions.

The Israeli occupation army, supported by the United States and Europe, continues its aggression on the Gaza Strip for the second year in a row, as its aircraft bomb the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers and homes of Palestinian civilians, destroying them over the heads of their residents, and preventing the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel.

The aggression has left about 145,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

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‘Bibi, You Are Not Going to Win this War’

Look Bibi, you are not going to win the war so stop acting as if you are going on! The sooner Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu realizes that the better it would be for everyone.

 But will he? Netanyahu is on a rollercoaster. Unable to finish off Gaza and Hamas, he turns his army to Lebanon and Hezbollah but he is soon stuck in the ‘mud’ despite the mass bombing, the destruction and the murder of innocent civilians.

The Israeli army has tried to cross the border at least seven times but has failed. It tried to enter a few hundred yards into southern Lebanon but soon pushed back every time by Hezbollah fighters. The Israeli army is finding out this party is no pushover despite the early pagers and the walkie talkie deathly-traps disasters.

Despite its air superiority and massive bombings that killed much of its top cadres including the dramatic killing of Secretary-General Hassan Nasarallah, Hezbollah fighters soon picked up and regained their strength and armor.

On the ground, the Israeli soldiers were not going to cross into Lebanon and that was a promise kept up by the skirmishes, heavy fighting, engagement and combat. Israeli soldiers were being stopped at the door so to speak, they were being killed and injured as reported by Hezbollah and admitted to by the Israeli army.

In addition to that, Hezbollah has been launching missiles and rockets on northern and central Israel all week, reaching all the way to Haifa and Tel Aviv, Acca, Tiberias, Safad with settlements, military basis, Mossad headquarters, the Galilee and all way to the occupied West Bank.

What this meant is that sirens were going off all the time and people were going in and out of underground shelters because of the extent of the missiles that were mostly coming from southern Lebanon but occasionally from Yemen and from Islamic resistance groups in Iraq and even Syria.

Psychology Strain

So the psychology has been a strain on its people, military and even politicians for on average between 100 and 150 missiles were being launched on the Israeli interior and on a daily basis. The majority of these are falling on these areas all the time and wreaking havoc and nervousness.  Their deflection by the Israeli Iron Dome has  failed badly in this war with Israelis feeling the heat as 23 percent of the population polled are already thinking of leaving the country.

Hezbollah is launching the different missiles despite the constant bombing being made by Israeli warplanes on the southern district of Beirut which is considered as the main Hezbollah stronghold. The Israelis are bombing intensely the Lebanese district, almost on the same level that was being practiced on the Gaza Strip, especially in the early months of the period following 7 October.

However, Hezbollah is stronger than Hamas and continuing its battering of the north of Israel – as can be seen – and will be maintained for a long time. Observers are saying Hezbollah seeks to send a clear message to Israel that ‘if you bomb our south district we will continue to strike places like Tel Aviv and Haifa’ which are the major economic and technological hubs and conurbations in Israel.

It is not an east ride for Israel after it killed Nasrallah which was seen as a brief moment of success and jubilation not least most of all from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who wanted to celebrate this act on the first anniversary of 7 October. But this wasn’t to be for soon, Israel was hit by 200 ballistic missiles launched all the way from Iran and increasing the psychology of fear among the Jewish population.

Israel has already tried to play down that affair by saying these missiles were not effective but they later admitted at least two of their military bases were hit. On the point of conjecture, everyone is expecting Israel to strike Iran and expand the regional war. But the Americans, whose generals and politicians are presently in Israel, they maybe trying to persuade the Israeli government not to because of the deadly consequences and slippery-slope scenarios.

Meanwhile, and feeling the pain again, Israel is going back to pound poor old Gaza in a most intense and obscene way and manner while seeking once again to drive the population of northern Gaza further down south and create a military zone and fill it with Jewish settlements through its so-called ‘Generals’ Plan’. 

This was the idea put forward at the start of this war on the enclave last year. It failed then – despite talk of driving the Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula – and no doubt it will fail now.

This is because after a whole year of destruction Hamas and its fighters continue to be a force to be reckoned with. They have not been destroyed despite the mass bombs dropped on Gaza but they are regrouping throughout the enclave and dealing painful blows to the Israeli army.

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