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Nasrallah to Netanyahu: You lost the war even if you enter Rafah

March 14, 2024 at 1:37 pm

Hundreds of people gather to follow the speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, on a screen, in Beirut, Lebanon on November 3, 2023 [Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu Agency]

Five months after launching its military operation in Gaza, “Israel has not managed to win a single victory, has not achieved a single one of its objectives,”  Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech yesterday evening.

“Even the [Israeli] enemy’s experts recognise the losses inflicted by the resistance. After five months of fighting, Israel has not managed to win a single victory, has not achieved a single one of its objectives. In the face of massacre, destruction and martyrdom, the people of Gaza continue to resist with strength and courage,” Nasrallah said, noting that “what is happening in Gaza is a lesson to the world.”

“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu says that if we do not go to Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, we have lost the war. We say to Netanyahu, even if you go to Rafah, you have lost the war, and you cannot eliminate Hamas or the resistance in Gaza despite all the massacres. Gaza’s people will not surrender to you, the people of Gaza are still embracing the resistance.”

He stressed, “What is the first and biggest goal Israel announced at the start of this war? The defeat of Hamas. Today, we are in the sixth month. Who is it negotiating with? Hamas.”

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“Hamas negotiates on behalf of all resistance factions, and it negotiates not from a position of weakness but imposes conditions [on Israel]. All of the Palestinian factions and the will of the Gazan people agree on the need to stop the aggression, not a temporary ceasefire.”

Nasrallah touched on the Lebanon-Israel front, saying: “Recently, the enemy’s anger has increased and the settlers’ anger has increased due to the continued resistance operations in Lebanon, and this front continues its pressure on the enemy.”

“Our Lebanese Front is performing its duty and playing its role in this battle. The screams of the settlers are getting louder than the resistance.”

He urged others to “listen to Israeli officials and experts saying that their soldiers are paying high prices,” adding that “Israel is hiding its losses of tanks and soldiers.”

“The enemy’s army is exhausted on all fronts,” he continued, adding: “Victory and triumph go to those who are patient and endure, and the matter needs some time. The enemy’s society is beginning to tire and will be forced to stop the aggression and acknowledge its failure.”

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