Hezbollah Leader Claims Iran Halted Escalation with Israel

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, asserted that Iranian involvement was the decisive factor in halting the escalation with Israel and achieving a ceasefire. Speaking two years after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem declared that Hezbollah would name the period since September 2024 "We Continue Our Promise." He stated, "In the recent war, we reached a point where Iran was the one that stopped the attacks in Lebanon. The understanding document between Iran and the United States is what reduced the escalation, and the resistance was able to use what it had to reach an agreement."

Qassem also addressed Israeli demands for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah, criticizing the request. "You tried for two years to disarm and did not succeed, so why are you asking the Lebanese army?" he questioned. He further stated that Israel seeks to use the Lebanese army as its tool, but emphasized that the Lebanese army is a national army and that Lebanese people communicate amongst themselves, not with Israel, and Israel cannot dictate terms to the Lebanese army.

In his first comments on the fighting in the Al-Taher mountain range, Qassem revealed Hezbollah's combat tactics. He explained that after three months of holding the area, fighters shifted to a strategy of alternating attacks and withdrawals. "Holding the territory is not what we worked for," he said, adding, "The resistance does the maximum according to profit and loss calculations and prevents the entrenchment of the occupation."

Qassem claimed Israel failed in its objectives to break Hezbollah or establish settlements in Lebanon. "After the blood of Nasrallah and after our many sacrifices, we can only continue and will not be defeated," he declared. He rejected any possibility of surrender to Israeli aggression, warning that such a move would mean the end of coexistence in Lebanon and pave the way for a "Greater Israel" plan. He accused Israel of desiring a civil war and the annexation of Lebanon under U.S. protection, stressing that "Lebanon without resistance will be erased." Hezbollah, he vowed, will continue its operations until Israel withdraws from Lebanese territory and full liberation is achieved.