Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday vowed to cooperate with the Lebanese Military and assist construct the nation’s defence capacities amid efforts to implement the phrases of a ceasefire with Israel.
Qassem was talking for the primary time because the begin of the ceasefire on Wednesday that envisions each Hezbollah and the Israeli navy withdrawing from south Lebanon, and the Lebanese navy deploying there alongside United Nations peacekeepers.
“We’ll work to… strengthen Lebanon’s defensive capacities,” stated Qassem, who succeeded Hezbollah’s former chief Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed in an enormous Israeli air strike on south Beirut in September 2024.
“The resistance can be prepared to forestall the enemy from making the most of Lebanon’s weak point together with our companions… at first the military,” he added in a televised speech.
“The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese military can be at a excessive stage to implement the commitments of the settlement,” Qassem continued, including that “nobody is betting on issues or disagreements” with the military.
Qassem additionally declared that his group had achieved a “nice victory” in opposition to Israel that “surpasses that of July 2006,” referring to the final time Hezbollah went to warfare with Israel.
“We gained as a result of we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah… (and) from annihilating or weakening the resistance,” Qassem stated, vowing that “our assist for Palestine is not going to cease and can proceed via totally different means.”
– ‘Menace thwarted’ –
The truce ended a battle that started the day after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, when Hezbollah started a low-intensity trade of cross-border hearth in solidarity with their Palestinian allies.
In late September, Israel intensified its marketing campaign in opposition to Hezbollah, launching fierce air strikes and later sending in floor troops.
Lebanon’s well being ministry stated at the very least 3,961 folks have been killed within the nation since October 2023 on account of the battle, most of them in latest weeks, whereas 16,520 have been wounded.
On the Israeli facet, the hostilities with Hezbollah killed at the very least 82 troopers and 47 civilians, authorities there stated.
Earlier Friday, the Israeli navy stated it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon after detecting militant exercise within the space.
“A short time in the past, terrorist exercise and motion of a Hezbollah transportable rocket launcher have been recognized in southern Lebanon,” the military stated.
“The risk was thwarted in an (Israeli Air Pressure) strike,” it added in a press release that featured a video of the air strike on a slowly transferring truck.
Israel has vowed to proceed appearing in opposition to any threats even after the ceasefire.
The navy additionally introduced a nighttime curfew in south Lebanon for the third day in a row, warning residents they’re “strictly forbidden to maneuver or journey south of the Litani River” between 5 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday and seven am (0500 GMT) the next day.
AFP
