The head of the Change Movement party, lawyer Elie Mahfoud. (Credit: NNA)
The head of the Change Movement party, lawyer Elie Mahfoud, urged Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem to take "off the Iranian cloack," on Sunday.
In a speech marking Jerusalem Day on Saturday, Qassem warned that if Israel does not respect the truce agreement and "the Lebanese state does not succeed in obtaining the necessary results on the political level, we will be forced to return to other options," without explicitly mentioning a return to attacks against Israel.
Qassem also said Saturday that he could not accept continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, a day after the first strike on Beirut's southern suburbs since a November cease-fire.
"Sheikh Naim Qassem should stop getting carried away by delusions and nonsense. When he says that it is the state's responsibility to end the occupation, he should have made sure, along with his militias, not to drag in the occupation. It was his responsibility to avoid engaging in wars that come to him through orders to create chaos and destruction from outside the borders," Mahfoud said in a statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency on Sunday.
On Sept. 23, tensions escalated between Hezbollah and Israel, after almost a year of cross-border attacks, into a full-scale war, before a cease-fire came into effect on Nov. 27.
Addressing Qassem, Mahfoud continued by stating that "you are the ones who caused the occupation to be brought in. And like you, you destroy and say 'State, return.' This has become a ridiculous refrain. Sheikh Naim, simply put, disarm your militias and integrate under the state's umbrella. The horizon is closed, and your ideological dreams have no place for implementation. Return to your true Lebanese identity and take off the Iranian cloak. The Lebanese silk thread is more beneficial to you and your people."
On Friday, Israel launched its first airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since the truce began, targeting a building in Hadath after issuing evacuation warnings on social media around an hour in advance. On Friday, at least six people were killed by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.