Hezbollah MP condemns Israeli attack, urges state to act

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s parliamentary leader, MP Mohammad Raad, condemned Israel’s recent bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs, calling it a clear act of aggression. Speaking on Friday, Raad stressed that "the state alone does not have the capacity to defend Lebanon or protect its people."

"Anyone who claims in our country that he or she exclusively holds the decision of war and peace or that the state or others exclusively hold this decision ignores reality and truth, as the Zionist enemy is currently the only one waging war and continuing aggression and occupation," Raad stated.

Raad made these remarks during a ceremony at Iran's embassy in Beirut, marking International Jerusalem Day. He denounced the "false pretexts of the Israeli enemy and expressed the Resistance's commitment to thwart its policies and attempts to drag Lebanon towards normalization."

He also urged Lebanon’s government to reinforce national solidarity in the face of Israeli actions, calling on the state to take concrete steps to force Israel’s unconditional withdrawal from occupied territories and end its aggression.

“The resistance, which accepted the cease-fire, is committed to it and does not violate the agreement,” Raad said. “The state must fulfill its duty to deter the enemy, force it to stop aggression and end the occupation by all means at its disposal, rather than merely justifying its inaction and impotence.”

Raad also cautioned unnamed political figures against underestimating Hezbollah’s influence. “Certain parties may be deluded into thinking that Hezbollah belongs to the past,” he said. “Governments generally belong to the past, while the sacrifices of martyrs are immortalized beyond history.”

Israel bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, for the first time after four months of truce, in response to rocket fire that targeted its territory. This is the second time since the start of the cease-fire that rockets have been fired from Lebanon towards Israel, the previous instance being on March 22. The Israeli army, which also bombed southern Lebanon, had called for the evacuation of part of the inhabitants of the southern suburbs, which were the target of intense bombardments during the two months of open warfare with the Shiite group before a fragile cease-fire took effect on November 27.

The remarks came after Israel’s airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a region that houses Hezbollah administrative offices and support base, marking the first such attack in four months. The Israeli military claimed it launched the strike in retaliation for rocket fire from Lebanon, the second such incident since the fragile cease-fire took effect in late November 2024. The previous rocket attack occurred on March 22, 2024.

However, since the cease-fire took effect, Israel has conducted near-daily strikes in various regions in Lebanon, mainly in the South and the Bekaa, along the border with Syria, killing more than 40 people since. Additionally, it continues occupying several points it deems "strategic" in Lebanese territory. 

Hezbollah had opened a "support front" for Gaza against Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. These attritions hostilities, which escalated into open warfare in September 2024, resulted in more than 4,000 deaths in Lebanon and forced more than one million people to flee.