Hezbollah said on 21 February that the Lebanese people “no longer have any option” other than resistance, after a series of violent and deadly Israeli attacks against the country’s east and south.
Deputy chief of Hezbollah’s Political Council Mahmoud Qamati said “What happened yesterday in the Bekaa is a new massacre and a new aggression.”
“What option do we have left to defend ourselves and our country? What other option do we have besides resistance? We no longer have any option,” he added.
Another official, Hezbollah MP Rami Abu Hamdan, said mere government condemnation were no longer acceptable.
He stressed that the “Zionist brutality” is “nothing new,” but argued that “condemnations and statements of denunciation are no longer sufficient,” adding that Lebanese blood is “not cheap.”
Abu Hamdan called for a radical change in how the state defends the country, rejecting the normalization of daily attacks on Lebanon.
He added that the government should not act as a mere political commentator, describing Israeli strikes as routine events preceding meetings of the ceasefire “mechanism” committee. At a minimum, he said, Lebanon should freeze its participation in the committee until Israel halts its violations, calling this a test of the committee and its sponsors.
He said his message was directed at Lebanese officials, and not Israel, which “only understands the language of force.”
Israeli warplanes carried out violent airstrikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region on Friday night, killing at least ten, including Hezbollah members and civilians.
The Lebanese resistance confirmed the deaths of eight of its members, including a senior official. It said they “sacrificed themselves for Lebanon and its people.”
At least 24 others were wounded, including children. A Syrian man and an Ethiopian woman were among the dead.
Tel Aviv claimed it attacked members of Hezbollah’s missile unit.
The Israeli army said it “eliminated a large number of terrorists belonging to the missile array of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, in three different headquarters of the organization.”
The strikes hit residential areas, causing widespread destruction. Just hours earlier, at least two people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon's Sidon (Saida).
The next meeting of the US-led ‘ceasefire monitoring mechanism’ is scheduled for Wednesday, 25 February.
The committee is made up of Lebanon, the US, France, UNIFIL, and Israel. While Lebanese-Israeli dealings via the mechanism were previously indirect, the latest committee meetings saw Lebanese and Israeli officials meet directly – under heavy US pressure and in violation of the country’s laws.
Beirut is being pressured by Washington, at the behest of Israel, to fully disarm Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has rejected this. The movement says it will eventually be willing to discuss a national defensive strategy that could incorporate its weapons into the state and be available for use to protect the country.
Yet it refuses to enter into any such talks until Israel ends its daily attacks and withdraws the troops that occupied several areas along the border during the ceasefire. Over 300 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the 2024 truce, and at least two dozen Lebanese citizens are held in Israeli prisons.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to resume full-scale war against the entirety of Lebanon unless Hezbollah is disarmed.
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