The secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has hailed the steadfastness of Palestinian and Lebanese fighters in the face of Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, stressing that Tel Aviv will eventually have no option but to retreat in another humiliation for its army.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks in a Saturday televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on the occasion of Hezbollah Martyr’s Day, which falls on November 11 annually.
“Time is not in favor of the [Israeli] enemy and all factors, including the captives file, will build up pressure on it. We must continue the pressure, and those placing the main burden are the people of Gaza.
“The enemy is confused and this is reflected in the contradictory statements being made by [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Nasrallah said.
He emphasized that Hezbollah’s operations have continued on a daily basis since his last speech on November 3, and that the activities of resistance fighters have intensified both in terms of numbers and type over the past week.
“We have used attack drones for the first time in Lebanon’s history as well as the heavy-caliber Burkan (Volcano) missiles, which can carry a warhead weighing up to 500 kilograms,” the Hezbollah chief said.
Nasrallah further noted that Hezbollah fighters quickly responded to the brutal killing of four civilians – three children and their grandmother – in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Ainata, and struck Kiryat Shmona city near the Lebanese border with salvos of Katyusha rockets.
“Israelis are doing their utmost to conceal their losses. We are sending reconnaissance drones into the northern sector of the occupied territories on a daily basis, and some of them are reaching Haifa and beyond,” the Hezbollah leader said.
He said high-ranking Israeli military officials have admitted that confrontations on Lebanon’s border have escalated lately.
“Pressure will continue from Lebanon’s front and I salute heroic resistance fighters for this. The talk of the town here in Lebanon remains to be about developments on the battlefield. Eyes must remain fixed on the matter, as this battle is not akin to the previous ones,” Nasrallah said.
“Through their crimes in Gaza, the Israelis want the Palestinians to forget all about their land. Israel wants Lebanon to stand idly by and observe wholesale destruction in Gaza,” Nasrallah said.
He argued that the Israeli army considers every home and every family in Gaza to be a legitimate target.
“Since 1948, Israeli massacres have not deterred Palestinians from pursuing their rights. Did Israel manage to force the Lebanese nation to give up resistance in 1982 despite the destruction of thousands of homes and the killing of thousands of people? Israel killed thousands in the 2006 war in Lebanon, but the Lebanese people did not abandon the resistance,” the Hezbollah secretary general said.
Nasrallah also stated that Israelis should be the ones to despair as their atrocities in Gaza are dealing a heavy blow to the so-called normalization scheme.
“The world public opinion has changed, and Israel’s lies have been exposed. This is in favor of the resistance front and the people of Gaza. Time is running out for the enemy and the parties that are advocating it. All world leaders are calling for a ceasefire, except for the US administration and the British government,” he stated.
“Palestinians are not calling on participants in the extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit [in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh on Gaza conflict] to dispatch armies. They only want Arab and Muslim nations to stand united, shout in the face of Americans and demand an end to this aggression,” Nasrallah said.
