Following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in an Israeli strike, Hezbollah has announced that it will continue to pursue Nasrallah’s goals, saying ‘we are not retreating, we are on the battlefield’.
In a statement, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem expressed his condolences, recalling that Hassan Nasrallah, whom he described as ‘the leader of the resistance’, had martyred for the freedom of Palestine. Qassem recalled that Nasrallah stood like a barrier in front of US imperialism and the Zionists and was free in life and in death.
Qassem said that Israel targets civilians, including civilians and medical teams, in all regions of Lebanon, and that the US supports Israel with all its means.
Noting that Hezbollah has lost some of its leaders, including Nasrallah, Qassem said, “New names are replacing the names of our martyrs. We always have cadres in reserve. Israel can never end our military power,” he said.
Stressing that “we will not retreat from the battlefield”, Qassem said: “We are martyred, but we run to victory. We are making sacrifices. They martyred our friends, our secretary general, yes, but we continue on our way. We will continue to move forward in the way Nasrallah taught us and his goals under his leadership. We will continue to fight the enemy”.
This war will be long, but we are ready for all possibilities. If Israel starts a land war, our resistance forces are ready. We will fight. Our Israeli enemies will never achieve their goals. We will emerge victorious from this war.
Qassem said that Israel wants to drive a wedge between the resistance and the people by targeting civilians and the manpower of the resistance, and thanked the Lebanese people, administrators and health workers who stood upright in the face of Israeli and US killings by refusing to play this game.
“Just as we liberated Lebanon in 2006, we will liberate it again,” Qassem said, adding that Hezbollah would elect a new secretary general as soon as possible.
Hassan Nasrallah, who became Hezbollah’s secretary-general after Abbas al-Musawi was killed in an Israeli raid in 1992, was killed in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut late on Friday.
