A Palestinian man rides a donkey-drawn cart through the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war in Gaza, Oct. 7, 2026. (Credit: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah on Wednesday praised Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, marking its third anniversary by condemning what it described as a lack of international support for the Palestinian cause and warning regional leaders against showing “complacency” toward Israel.
Hezbollah did not mention in its statement the “support front” it opened in south Lebanon on Oct. 8, 2023, which plunged it into nearly a year of war with Israel before a cease-fire took effect on Nov. 27, 2024. The fighting, followed by a new offensive launched in March 2026 in support of Iran, killed nearly 9,000 people and led to Israel occupying more than 600 square kilometers of south Lebanon.
Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 killed 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally. Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed more than 74,200 people, according to the Health Ministry in the Palestinian territory.
“Faithful to the Palestinian cause and resolved to support its resistant and oppressed people, Hezbollah reiterates its vehement condemnation of the Zionist genocide, which exposes the falseness of the values espoused by the international community — and holds the American administration and Western countries responsible for failing to condemn Zionist crimes,” the party said.
“We also warn the leaders of the region: silence, complacency and appeasement toward the enemy and its allies will only undermine their own authority, weaken them and allow the enemy to control the future of their countries and their peoples,” it added.
Several countries in the region have normalized relations with Israel since 2020, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Lebanon and Syria are currently engaged in talks with Israel, with Damascus seeking a security agreement. Saudi Arabia, which began normalization talks with Israel in 2023, put the process on hold following the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Hezbollah said the Oct. 7 attack “destabilized Palestine’s neighboring countries” by challenging what it called a “defeatist normalization dynamic” promoted by regional governments.
“Despite this savagery and genocide, the enemy has failed to annihilate Hamas and the resistance factions, nor to break the population of Gaza; it has established neither peace, nor even a truce or temporary stability,” the party said. “The situation remains open to developments whose repercussions extend beyond the Gaza Strip to affect the future of the entire region, the Palestinian cause, and international security and peace.”
The attack also “accelerated the decline” of Israel, according to Iranian army chief of staff Ali Abdullahi.
On Oct. 7, “the Resistance Front, an informal alliance of Iran-backed armed groups fighting Israel, including Hamas, transformed its defensive strategy into an offensive one for the legitimate defense of the Palestinian people and their land, and accelerated the decline of the Zionist regime,” Abdullahi said in a statement.
Hamas, meanwhile, described Oct. 7 as a “heroic battle” that allowed the world to hear “the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people.”
'Saudi Arabia working with Israel, United States against Hezbollah, Houthi says'
Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi on Wednesday accused Saudi Arabia of working with Israel and the United States against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying Riyadh was pressuring Lebanese officials and “inciting everyone against Hezbollah.”
Speaking in a televised address, on Massira TV, on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, al-Houthi praised Hezbollah for opening a front against Israel following the attack and said the group had made “great sacrifices,” including the deaths of its former leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine and other commanders and fighters.
“Israel, together with the Americans, is working to end the Islamic resistance front in Lebanon, and the Saudis have a key role in this,” al-Houthi said.
He accused Saudi Arabia of “pressuring official circles in Lebanon to buy positions” and “inciting everyone against Hezbollah in one front with the Zionist and American enemy.”
Al-Houthi said Saudi Arabia’s hostility toward Hezbollah was not new and dated back to the group’s early years. He also accused Riyadh of involvement in the assassination of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh and of earlier attempts to assassinate Nasrallah.
“The greatest service to the Israeli enemy in Lebanon is ending the Islamic resistance,” al-Houthi said, describing Hezbollah as confronting what he called an Israeli plan targeting the wider region.