THE secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has met with a delegation of senior officials with the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, as hundreds of Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks around hospitals and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met with prominent figures from the Gaza-based group, including Khalil al-Hayya and Osama Hamdan, in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network reported.
During their meeting, Nasrallah and the Hamas officials reviewed the latest field developments following the large-scale and surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, which Palestinian resistance movements launched against the Israeli regime on October 7.
The two sides also evaluated potential scenarios on all resistance fronts, especially in the Gaza Strip, and underlined the need for closer coordination and greater steadfastness in order to emerge victorious in the Gaza war.
The meeting came on the same day that Hezbollah fighters launched a series of retaliatory strikes against Israeli military positions in the northern part of the 1948-occupied territories.
Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Manar television channel, citing a Hezbollah statement, reported that the group had pounded the al-Raheb outpost with a heavy-calibre Burkan (Volcano) missile, directly hitting the designated targets.
Moreover, the Lebanese resistance fighters struck Israeli military posts in Bayyad Blida and Yiftah regions, causing casualties in the targeted areas.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stated that his group which he described as an integral part of the Axis of Resistance in the West Asia region is in a state of war with Israel.
‘Israel aims to terrorise Palestinians and force them to abandon the resistance by massacring the people in the Gaza Strip,’ he added.
Hezbollah has launched a fresh round of retaliatory missile attacks on Israel’s military sites in the occupied territories.
Stressing that the Israeli regime seeks to crush Hamas, the Hezbollah official said, ‘Arab and Muslim countries must contribute, even a little, to disturbing and hurting the occupying Israeli regime.’
Sheikh Qassem said there was information indicating that Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza are ‘able to withstand for a long period of time,’ adding, ‘The resistance’s victory will be achieved through the Occupation’s inability to achieve its goals.’
- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says six weeks of heroic resistance of the oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza has proved that time is not on Israel’s side if the war drags on, stressing that the global public opinion would see the occupying regime and the US as the main losers.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks upon his arrival in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday, where he is expected to discuss the recent developments in the region, including the Israeli regime’s war on the Gaza Strip, with Lebanese authorities.
‘Without a doubt, the future of Gaza and the future of Palestine will be decided only by the Palestinian people,” the top Iranian diplomat said.
‘We have heard from the resistance leaders in the region that the finger of the resistance will remain on the trigger until the Palestinian people’s rights are fully restored and their fight has achieved its goals,’ he added.
Hamas says it has provided a response to Qatar and Egypt concerning the potential of a ceasefire between the movement and the Israeli regime.
Amir-Abdollahian further noted that he is in Beirut ‘to consult with high Lebanese authorities about how to maximise security in the region and how to restore Palestinian rights.’
Iran’s foreign minister’s remarks came hours after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas announced a four-day truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip that will see the cessation of Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said in a statement that the deal, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, will allow the entry of hundreds of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid trucks to Gaza.
The deal will also see the release of 50 Israeli war prisoners in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian women and children from the occupying entity’s jails.
The resistance movement warned that the finger of the resistance movement will ‘remain on the trigger’ should the occupying regime breach the deal.
Hamas has announced a four-day truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip that will see the cessation of Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
According to the Gaza-based health ministry, at least 14,000 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, most of them women and children, and injured around 33,000 others.
Tel Aviv has also imposed a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
- Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has told leaders of the BRICS group of emerging economies that members of the organisation should move to designate the Israeli regime as a terrorist entity because of the extensive crimes it has committed in the Gaza Strip over the past weeks.
‘It is necessary that this fake regime be recognised as a terrorist regime and its army be regarded as a terrorist organisation,’ Raeisi said.
The plea was part of seven proposals submitted by the Iranian president to a virtual BRICS summit held at the organisation’s headquarters in South Africa on Tuesday.
The summit was convened at Iran’s request to discuss the ongoing conflict in Palestine where the Israeli regime has killed more than 13,000 people in Gaza as part of a relentless war to confront resistance fighters in the territory.
In his address to the meeting, Raeisi said that BRICS members should unite their efforts to break an Israeli siege on Gaza and facilitate safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory, where more than 2.3 million people are in a dire humanitarian situation.
He also said that BRICS members should help set up an inquiry into Israel’s use of banned weapons in the Gaza war, including its use of white phosphorous bombs against the civilian population living in the territory.
The Iranian president further called on members of the bloc to recognise the right of the Palestinian nation to self-defence against the Israeli aggression as well as its struggle to liberate lands occupied by the Israeli regime over the past decades.
‘With regards to the constant crimes committed by and the racist nature of the fake Israeli regime, free nations of the world expect all governments especially BRICS members to immediately put the issue of the severance of political, economic and military ties with the regime high on the agenda,’ he further said.
Raeisi also said Iran will support a move by several BRICS countries to lodge a complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the crimes it has committed in Gaza.
However, he said that the prosecution in the ICC should also cover the United States and its support for the Israeli regime’s killing of children in Gaza.
BRICS stands for the initial letters of the names of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the five countries that initially formed the bloc to counter the Western hegemony. Iran and five other nations joined the grouping in January 2023.
