Naim Qassem’s feedback got here because the Israeli army mentioned it carried out greater than 50 strikes in Lebanon this month.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has known as on Lebanon’s authorities to work tougher to finish Israel’s day by day assaults within the nation, a day after an Israeli air strike focused the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut for the third time since a ceasefire was agreed late final November.
Qassem mentioned in a televised speech on Monday that Hezbollah applied the ceasefire deal that ended the 14-month conflict, however Israel has continued to launch relentless air strikes.
Qassem’s feedback got here because the Israeli army mentioned it carried out more than 50 strikes in Lebanon this month in response, it says, to threats towards Israel and Hezbollah allegedly violating the United States-brokered ceasefire.
Rights teams have denounced Israeli assaults on Lebanon, saying they’re violating the truce deal.
On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the realm for the reason that November ceasefire. The Israeli army mentioned it struck a precision-guided missiles facility.
‘Put strain on America’
Following the strike, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of undermining stability in Lebanon and escalating tensions. He mentioned Israeli assaults pose “actual risks to the safety” of the area.
“Yesterday, an aggression focused the southern suburbs of Beirut. This assault lacks any justification … It’s a political assault geared toward altering the foundations by drive,” Qassem mentioned of Sunday’s assault.
“The resistance complied one hundred pc with the [ceasefire] deal and I inform state officers that it’s your responsibility to ensure safety,” Qassem mentioned, including that Lebanese officers ought to contact sponsors of the ceasefire in order that they put strain on Israel to stop its assaults.
“Put strain on America and make it perceive that Lebanon can not rise if the aggression doesn’t cease,” Qassem mentioned, pointing to Lebanese officers. He added that the US has pursuits in Lebanon and “stability achieves these pursuits”.
Qassem mentioned the precedence needs to be for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, an finish to Israeli strikes within the nation, and the discharge of Lebanese folks held in Israel for the reason that conflict formally ended on November 27.
Hezbollah started launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after its ally Hamas led the October 7, 2023 assault and Israel responded with mass bombardment of Gaza. About 1,200 folks in Israel had been killed and one other 251 others had been kidnapped in the course of the assault in southern Israel.
The conflict ignited additional final September when Israel carried out waves of air strikes throughout Lebanon and assassinated a lot of the group’s senior leaders, together with Hassan Nasrallah. The preventing killed greater than 4,000 folks in Lebanon, most of them civilians.
The Lebanese authorities mentioned earlier this month that 190 folks have been killed and 485 injured in Lebanon by Israeli strikes for the reason that ceasefire took impact.
