Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah during a press conference. (Credit: NNA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not achieve politically what he could not gain through war,” said Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah during a press conference broadcast by local media.
“We will not accept Lebanon submitting to Israeli conditions… and anyone who thinks that Israeli brutality will force us to accept the enemy’s terms is delusional,” Fadlallah stated, asserting that Hezbollah is “now more committed than ever to resistance.”
These comments come amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel, which began Oct. 8, 2023, and has claimed nearly 3,300 lives in Lebanon, mostly civilians, according to the latest figures from Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Over the past 48 hours, the Israeli military has intensified its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, which had seen fewer strikes in recent weeks, while continuing its attacks in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Hezbollah continues to counter the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon and has launched missiles into Israeli territory. Despite fluctuating signals about a cease-fire since Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president, Israel’s new Defense Minister Israel Katz ruled out halting hostilities until Hezbollah surrenders.
Helplessness and vengeance
Fadlallah emphasized that Hezbollah has no intention of laying down its arms. “Despite the scale of losses among urban and civilian areas, our people have no choice but to continue resisting and standing firm in the face of this brutality,” he said, as damage in targeted areas mounts. The lawmaker argued that Israel’s relentless bombardment reflects its inability to halt Hezbollah’s operations.
“After exhausting its ground campaign, in which it failed to push back the resistance or stop rocket fire, the enemy has launched its second phase, which will not bring it the victory it seeks,” Fadlallah continued, adding that the Israeli army’s “sole objective” is now “destruction.”
He also suggested the Israeli military aims to avenge the “humiliation” its soldiers experienced at the hands of the people of “Bint Jbeil and its neighboring villages” during the 2006 war between the two sides.
“The enemy seeks to take revenge on our southern towns with brutal destruction, yet it is as fragile as a spider’s web,” he added.
Fadlallah also noted that Hezbollah “has worked to manage the large wave of displacement, providing basic necessities at displacement centers without media coverage,” as over a million people have fled bombardments since the Israeli offensive began in late September, according to Lebanese authorities.
Finally, Fadlallah said, “The assassination of the master of resistance by the enemy will not extinguish our front, as it continues on the same path, and our people continue to trust Hezbollah.” This referred to former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27. He was succeeded in late October by former deputy leader Naim Qassem.
