Naïm Qassem also recognized that the Lebanese Shiite movement had lost “a military supply line via Syria”.
The leader of Lebanese Hezbollah hoped this Saturday that the new Syrian authorities, who overthrew his ally Bashar al-Assad, “will not normalize” their relations with Israel, sworn enemy of the pro-Iranian movement. He has “wish” that the new power in Syria “considers Israel an enemy and will not normalize relations”indicated Naïm Qassem in his first televised speech since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, that his formation supported militarily during more than a decade of conflict in Syria.
At the end of an 11-day offensive, the rebel coalition dominated by the radical Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew the power of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, who fled to Russia. In the process, Israeli troops entered the buffer zone with Syria. The UN denounced «violation» of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel.
The leader of the armed coalition, Abu Mouhammad al-Jolani, denounced on Saturday the incursion of Israeli troops into the south of his country, in comments reported by the coalition's Telegram channel. He nevertheless affirmed that his country was too “exhausted” by war to engage in a new conflict. After the rebels took power, Israel intensified its strikes in Syria, notably targeting military sites in Damascus and across the country.
Supply line broken
Hezbollah has decided to open a front against Israel on October 8, 2023 to support its Palestinian ally, Hamas, in Gaza. This violence turned into open war on September 23. Hezbollah's opponents in Lebanon and abroad say that war and the fall of Assad have significantly weakened the group. During his speech on Saturday, the Hezbollah leader said that“at this stage”Hezbollah, which brought its weapons mainly through the Syrian-Lebanese border, could no longer be supplied via Syria.
“Hezbollah loses (…) a military supply line via Syria, but this loss remains a detail in the context of the resistance action” to Israel, Naim Qassem said in a televised speech, adding that “resistance must adapt to circumstances”.
As part of the truce agreement that came into force on November 27 to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers are to deploy in southern Lebanon and the Israeli army to withdraw over a period of 60 days. Hezbollah must send its forces north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometers from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in the South.
