Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Lebanon on February 14, killing four, including a woman and her two children. According to Al Mayadeen the attacks targeted the villages of Souaneh, Adshit, and Chehabiyeh. Israel’s attacks are believed to be in response to an operation carried out by Hezbollah earlier in the day against the Israeli military command base in Safed which killed one and injured eight.
The escalation in attacks between Israel and Hezbollah comes just a day following remarks by Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on the annual “Day of the wounded and captured” on February 13.
Considered to be some of the clearest and firmest warnings against Israel so far, the resistance leader called Israel the root cause of most of the problems in the region and vowed to respond to all the threats from it. He also asserted that people of Lebanon will never stop supporting the Palestinian cause as it is their “moral responsibility”.
He praised the Palestinians in Gaza for their “legendary steadfastness and heroism” against 130 days of Israeli war on the besieged territory. He underlined the Palestinian patience in front of Israeli provocations and aggression, calling it “unprecedented” in world history.
Nasrallah also said that the defeat of Israel in the war is of great interest to countries in the region, as it would be good for the peace and stability in the region. He asserted that Israel has always caused trouble for the countries in the region including Lebanon which has suffered under its occupation.
He called Hezbollah’s responses inside Israel since October 8 “an honest response to the moral and religious responsibility” against the occupation and its atrocities on Palestinians.
Nasrallah also acknowledged the sufferings of the common Lebanese who sacrifice daily to face the Israeli aggressor, with their family members killed and their homes and other properties destroyed.
Over 268 people, mostly civilians from southern villages and towns, have been killed in the Israeli air bombings and artillery fire on Lebanon since October 8, when Hezbollah declared solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza a day after Israel began its bombing.
More than 28,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 68,000 others have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza alone.
Hezbollah considers itself as a part of the regional “Axis of Resistance” against colonial and imperial occupation and interference, alongside the Ansar Allah in Yemen and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq. All three groups and numerous others have carried out attacks against Israel and US assets in the region in opposition to the war in Gaza.
Resistance against Israel will expand if Israel tries to escalate
On Tuesday, Reuters reported on a French proposal for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in response to the end of Israeli attacks and for settlement of border disputes. However, Hezbollah has denied any negotiation with Israel until the war in Gaza ends.
US and French delegates have visited the country and warned Hezbollah from interfering in the Israeli war on Gaza. However, the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have also made it clear in the past that they do not want any war with Israel.
Despite the visits by foreign delegates and assurances by the US warning Hezbollah to desist from attacking, Israel has continued to carry out targeted attacks inside Lebanon killing Hezbollah and Hamas commanders.
Nasrallah highlighted that several western delegates who have visited Lebanon since October 7 have been trying to intimidate Hezbollah and other forces to stop their resistance against Israeli occupation in order to protect Israeli interests. They have been trying to pressurize Hezbolloah to withdraw its forces beyond the Litani river to protect the northern Israeli settlements, Nasrallah revealed.
However, “the front in South Lebanon is meant to produce pressure, support and participate in defeating the enemy and weaken it until the aggression on Gaza stops”, Al Mayadeen reported Nasrallah saying.
Hezbollah has claimed that Israel does not want peace in the region and instead wants to drag Hezbollah into the war by repeatedly violating its sovereignty and carrying out attacks inside Lebanon.
Recently Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other leaders in the past, however, have repeatedly threatened to carry out a Gaza-like war in Lebanon. Gallant claimed earlier this month that even a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza that would not mean the end of war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Responding to Israeli threats, Nasrallah on Tuesday warned that, “no matter how much you threaten us, we will not yield, and even if you wage war on us, we will not stop” until the aggression against Gaza stops.”
Nasrallah also warned that if Israel continues to threaten people in Lebanon Hezbollah will never allow the hundreds of thousands displaced in northern Israel to go back to their settlements. He also warned that millions of Israelis will be forced to be displaced if Israel escalates the war against Lebanon.
