{"id":322356,"date":"2026-03-05T01:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/322356\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T01:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:52:15","slug":"hezbollah-chief-attacks-on-israel-a-response-to-truce-violations-unrelated-to-any-other-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/322356\/","title":{"rendered":"Hezbollah chief: Attacks on Israel a response to truce violations, ‘unrelated to any other battle’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a televised address, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Wednesday said his terror group\u2019s resumption of rocket attacks on Israel this week is a response to Israel\u2019s continued presence and airstrikes in Lebanon since the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal.<\/p>\n

The speech came amid the Lebanese government\u2019s searing accusations that the Iran-backed proxy is dragging Lebanon into a regional war, after the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran that the Islamic Republic has responded to with missile and drone strikes across the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy God, how strange you are,\u201d Qassem said in the speech, addressing the Lebanese government. \u201cWhat is your response to the wide-scale aggression?\u201d<\/p>\n

The renewed fighting against Israel, he claimed, \u201cis not linked to any other battle; what we want is to stop the aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he also said that the renewed rocket attacks on Israel \u201care a response to 15 months of violations against us, including the targeting of the great religious authority,\u201d Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader who was killed at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo anyone asking about the timing\u201d of Hezbollah\u2019s resumption of attacks, Qassem said: \u201cWere we expected to remain endlessly patient?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Israel did after the rocket salvo was not a response. It was an aggression that had been prepared in advance,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cHezbollah and its Islamic resistance are responding to the Israeli-American aggression and this is a legitimate right\u2026 For us this is an existential defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA plume of smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut\u2019s Haret Hreik neighborhood on March 4, 2026. (IBRAHIM AMRO \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

He added that the Lebanese government\u2019s formal decision in August to bring all weapons in the country, chiefly Hezbollah\u2019s, under state control, \u201cwas a grave error that has weakened the position of the Lebanese state and legitimized Israel\u2019s freedom of aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as there is occupation \u2014 resistance and arms are a right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Qassem also criticized Beirut\u2019s announcement Monday of an \u201cimmediate ban\u201d on Hezbollah\u2019s military activities and fresh demand that it surrender its weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of the Lebanese government moving to condemn the Israeli-American aggression and look for ways to confront it, it turned against the resistance to complete its error and align itself with Israeli demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe topic of the resistance and the weapons of the resistance is not a subject of dispute for anyone or with anyone. It is a legitimate right. We are fighting in Lebanon in defense of our people, the future of our children and our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Also Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him not to order a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to the French readout.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) greets French President Emmanuel Macron before a meeting in Jerusalem on October 24, 2023. (Christophe Ena\/Pool\/AFP)<\/p>\n

The call came a day Israel deployed troops deeper into southern Lebanon, beyond the five posts it currently holds, \u201cas part of an enhanced forward defense posture\u201d amid the attacks by Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important for the parties to return to the ceasefire agreement,\u201d wrote Macron on X.<\/p>\n

Macron also called Lebanon\u2019s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, stressing \u201cthe need for Hezbollah to immediately cease its attacks against Israel and beyond. This strategy of escalation constitutes a major error that endangers the entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance will continue, with its partners, to support the efforts of the Lebanese Armed Forces, so that they can fully assume their sovereignty missions and put an end to the threat posed by Hezbollah,\u201d added Macron.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate statement on the call from Netanyahu\u2019s office.<\/p>\n


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