Hezbollah: ’Israeli’ Escalation Will Not Go Unanswered as Failed Negotiations Threaten Lebanon’s Sovereignty

Translated by Al-Ahed News, Hezbollah Media Relations

Hezbollah condemned the latest "Israeli" escalation in southern Lebanon, following strikes that martyred 11 people, including women and children, and wounded 12 others.

The statement blamed the escalation on Netanyahu’s political interests and criticized the Lebanese authorities for continuing direct negotiations with the enemy while urging a stronger national position to protect Lebanon's sovereignty.

Hezbollah issued the following statement:

Lebanese people woke up this morning to a new wave of aggression and a brutal massacre committed by the criminal "Israeli" enemy against civilians in the south. The strikes targeted a house on the outskirts of Ansar and a building in Deir Al-Zahrani, martyring 11 people, including women and children, and wounding 12 others. This deliberate crime adds to the enemy’s long record of massacres, bloodshed against the Lebanese people, the destruction of their homes, the devastation of their farmland, and the erasure of entire villages.

This "Israeli" escalation, marked by attacks on civilians and the widening of the areas being targeted, reflects the desire and determination of the criminal enemy’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to escalate the war in order to strengthen his domestic political position, serve his electoral interests, and appease the far right. The enemy government and the United States, which provides it with full support and political cover, bear responsibility for this continued aggression and violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty. Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities should be looking for every available means to halt this aggression instead of insisting on the humiliating path of direct negotiations and continuing to offer the enemy concessions for free, despite its ongoing crimes and attacks and its openly declared expansionist ambitions toward Lebanon.

It is time for the authorities to conduct a comprehensive review of their policies in a way that safeguards Lebanon’s sovereignty and rights, rather than continuing down a path that has already proven its inability to protect Lebanon and its people. They must adopt a courageous, responsible and genuinely national position, stop chasing the negotiations being imposed on them by the Americans, and understand that relying on American guarantees and mediation is a failed bet. The Americans are partners of the "Israeli" enemy in its crimes and massacres against Lebanon. The latest arrogant and coercive statement by the US ambassador to Lebanon, calling for the surrender of the Resistance’s weapons while he should instead be pressuring the "Israeli" enemy to withdraw from the areas it occupies, only confirms that what the Americans seek is to protect the enemy’s interests and security at the expense of Lebanon's sovereignty and people.

All Lebanese, across all communities and political affiliations, must recognize the danger posed by the authorities' current approach to Lebanon, its unity, security and independence. The "Israeli" enemy must also understand clearly that its attacks, violations and attempts to impose new realities on the ground cannot continue unchecked. They will be met with an appropriate response in defense of Lebanon, its people, sovereignty and national dignity.