The new Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, has vowed to follow the path of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel last month and to implement his “war plan” against the “Israeli enemy”.
In a speech delivered following his election, Sheikh Qassem stressed that “supporting Gaza was a duty to confront Israel’s danger to the entire region.”
He also stressed that the party “does not fight on behalf of anyone, but rather to protect Lebanon, liberate [Lebanese] land, and support Gaza,” stressing that the war was imposed on it.
Referring to accusations levelled against the group of implementing Iranian agendas in the region, Sheikh Qassem said: “We in Lebanon are not fighting on behalf of Iran or to implement its project, but to protect and liberate our land.”
“The Lebanese resistance exists to liberate the land and confront the occupation and its expansionist intentions,” he said, adding that it was the resistance that expelled Israel from Lebanon, not international resolutions.
Qassem described the late Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, as “an icon of heroism for Palestine and the free people of the world, who resisted until his last breath.”
He criticised Western collusion with Israel in its war in Gaza and Lebanon, saying the US and Europe are working with Israel to eliminate the resistance and the peoples of the region, using genocide and criminality.