By Al Jazeera Apps Support
The Hezbollah chief says the Lebanese group remains open to peace, but it will not disarm or back down from confronting Israel until it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon.
鈥淲e cannot be asked to soften our stance or lay down arms while [Israeli] aggression continues,鈥 Naim Qassem told thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut鈥檚 southern suburbs on Sunday for Ashura, an important day in the Shia Muslim calendar.
Ashura commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, in which Prophet Muhammad鈥檚 grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shia Muslims, the day symbolises resistance against tyranny and injustice.
The Beirut area, a Hezbollah stronghold, was draped in yellow banners and echoed with chants of resistance as Qassem delivered his speech, flanked by portraits of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in September last year.
Israel launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 鈥 a day after Palestinian group Hamas, which counts Hezbollah as an ally, stormed the Israeli territory, killing some 1,100 people and taking about 250 others captive.
The Hamas attack was immediately followed by Israel鈥檚 bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The Israeli genocidal campaign was accompanied by a brutal blockade on entry of food and medical aid, bringing the enclave鈥檚 2.3 million residents to the brink of starvation.
Israel鈥檚 simultaneous attack on Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war by September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people, including much of Hezbollah鈥檚 top leadership, and displacing nearly 1.4 million, according to official data. A United States-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the war in November.
However, since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily air strikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people and wounded 600 others since November, according to Lebanon鈥檚 Ministry of Health.
鈥淗ow can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?鈥 Qassem said in his video address.
鈥淲e will not be a part of legitimising the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalisation,鈥 he added, in an apparent response to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying his government was 鈥渋nterested鈥 in such a move.
Qassem said Hezbollah鈥檚 weapons would not be on the negotiating table unless Israel 鈥渨ithdraws from the occupied territories, stops its aggression, releases the prisoners, and reconstruction begins鈥.
鈥淥nly then,鈥 he said, 鈥渨ill we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss national security and defence strategy.鈥
On Saturday, Israeli drones carried out four strikes on southern Lebanese towns, killing one person and wounding several others. Most of the Israeli attacks have targeted areas near the border, but Israeli warplanes have also hit residential neighbourhoods in Beirut鈥檚 southern districts, causing panic and mass evacuations.
Qassem鈥檚 speech came as the US envoy to Turkiye and Syria, Tom Barrack, was expected in Beirut on Monday. Lebanese officials say the US has demanded that Hezbollah disarm by the end of the year. Israel has warned it will continue striking Lebanon until the group is disarmed.
But Lebanon鈥檚 President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly called on the US and its allies to rein in Israel鈥檚 attacks, noting that disarming Hezbollah is a 鈥渟ensitive, delicate issue鈥.