Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem reiterated Sunday the group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.
Qassem spoke in a video address as thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark Ashoura.
Since the ceasefire with Hezbollah in November, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and to carry out near-daily airstrikes.
“How 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?” Qassem said in his video address. “We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization (with Israel).”
In response to those who ask why the group needs its missile arsenal, Qassem said: “How can we confront Israel when it attacks us if we didn’t have them? Who is preventing Israel from entering villages and landing and killing young people, women and children inside their homes unless there is a resistance with certain capabilities capable of minimal defense?”
His comments come ahead of an expected visit by US envoy Tom Barrack to Beirut to discuss a proposed plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the rest of southern Lebanon.
