The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, stated today, Tuesday, that “we are confronting the criminal and brutal Israeli enemy, backed by the bloodthirsty American tyrant, along with countries pursuing their own interests and defeated parties surviving on vile scraps.”

He said in a statement: “We are facing an Israeli-American aggression seeking to force our country, Lebanon, into becoming part of ‘Greater Israel.’ We will neither submit nor surrender, and we will continue to defend Lebanon and its people, no matter how long it takes or how great the sacrifices may be, for they are far less than the price of surrender. The enemy will eventually be forced to back down. We will not abandon the battlefield, but instead turn it into hell for Israel. We will respond to aggression and violations, and we will not return to the situation that existed before March 2.”

He stressed that “the Iranian-American agreement, which includes halting the aggression against Lebanon, is perhaps the strongest card for stopping the aggression,” while thanking Iran “for its concern for Lebanon and its people,” adding that “we appreciate any party that contributes to ending the aggression.”

He pointed out that “the responsibility for negotiations aimed at achieving Lebanon’s sovereign goals remains with the Lebanese state authorities. We are prepared to cooperate with them to achieve five objectives: preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty by ending Israeli aggression by sea, land, and air; liberating Lebanese territory through the withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from occupied areas and the deployment of the Lebanese Army south of the Litani River; securing the release of prisoners; ensuring the return of residents to all their villages and towns; and carrying out reconstruction efforts.”

Naim Qassem (Archive).

He called for “the option of indirect negotiations, where negotiating authority remains in the hands of the Lebanese negotiator, and for withdrawing from direct negotiations, which constitute pure gains for Israel and gratuitous concessions by the Lebanese authorities.”

Moreover, he explained that “no one outside Lebanon has any say regarding weapons, the resistance, or the organization of the Lebanese state’s internal affairs. This is an internal Lebanese matter and not part of negotiations with the enemy. Once Lebanon achieves the five objectives, it will organize its internal situation through a national security strategy that benefits from its sources of strength, including the resistance,” citing the inaugural speech of President Joseph Aoun: “My pledge is to call for a comprehensive discussion on a defense policy within the framework of a national security strategy at the diplomatic, economic, and military levels, enabling the Lebanese state, I repeat, the Lebanese state, to remove Israeli occupation and repel its aggression from all Lebanese territories.”