Hezbollah’s leader: Israel will withdraw from all Lebanon
Shafaq News- Beirut
The campaign to eliminate Hezbollah from Lebanon has failed, Secretary-General Naim Qassem declared on Friday, hours after Israel killed about 50 people in southern Lebanon.
In a televised speech, Qassem described Lebanon’s current stage as “the most dangerous” for the country’s future, as Israel aims to “completely end the resistance and its people,” including through the closure of air, sea, and land routes to prevent weapons and technology from reaching Hezbollah, blocking reconstruction to keep displaced people away from their homes, and imposing financial pressure to obstruct the group’s recovery.
Still, Israel will withdraw “from every last inch” of Lebanese territory, Qassem vowed.
Reuters reported earlier on Friday, citing a senior US official, that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon beginning at 4:00 PM local time, brokered with assistance from Iran, though local Lebanese sources later reported more than 13 Israeli airstrikes on villages across the Nabatieh district after the ceasefire was said to have taken effect. Lebanon’s Health Ministry put the toll from Israeli attacks across Lebanon since March 2 at 3,980 dead and 12,001 wounded.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Hezbollah killed four of its soldiers, including the commander of Battalion 52 of the Givati Brigade, and injured 17 others during fighting in southern Lebanon overnight.
