TEHRAN – Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah suggests that the U.S. assassinated Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani and deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, at the request of the Israeli and Saudi regimes.

“The criminal assassination of General Soleimani was not only an American crime, but I believe that Israel and Saudi Arabia were culprits in this crime as well, even if their role was just to provoke Washington to commit it,” Nasrallah said.

He made the remarks in an exclusive interview with al-Mayadeen television network on Sunday night. During the interview, the Hezbollah leader reflected on major regional and international developments as well as domestic issues of Lebanon.

On January 3, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered drone strikes that martyred Major General Soleimani, chief of the IRGC Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

Iran has vowed to target whoever had a role in the cowardly assassination of General Soleimani, who was on a peace mission to Iraq when he was targeted by the U.S. military.

Nasrallah also said the Israeli regime’s forces are on high alert after the November assassination of top Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

He noted that the Israeli regime is worried about the approach of the new U.S. administration regarding the region, adding that he could be a target of the Israeli regime's assassination operation as he is a Resistance leader. 

“Other Hezbollah leaders and I are targets for America and Israel,” he said.

“We have information that Saudi Arabia is instigating to assassinate me at least since the war on Yemen started,” he continued.

Nasrallah pointed out that the assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis was an uncovered operation, unlike the assassination of martyrs Mughniyeh and Fakhrizadeh.

“Hajj Qassem was a very special person on the humanitarian and moral levels… he had a special charisma and a strong ability to have an influence on anyone who knows him,” he highlighted.

“Militarily, Hajj Qassem was the frontline man not the man in the operation room, he was the many of strategy and tactics… Politically and culturally, he was well-educated in various fields,” the Hezbollah leader emphasized.

“In the last period before his assassination I was very concerned about him, especially after I saw how much the Western media were focusing on him and were highlighting his role and movement,” he added.

Nasrallah went on to say that Martyr Muhandis was a great commander and he resembled Hajj Qassem a lot. “His role on the political and military levels was great. He had the main role in the victories against the U.S. and ISIL,” he said.

“Hajj Qassem had a relation with all the Palestinian factions, and his concern was that these factions get the support they need to resist the occupation. He had no red lines on the logistic support to them,” he said.

The Hezbollah secretary-general said Iran is only an excuse for the Arab regimes that normalized relations with Israel. “This took place because the Palestinian cause has only become a burden on them.”

“There is no excuse for anyone to abandon Palestine,” he stressed.

Nasrallah added that the Resistance Axis’s power today is greater than in the past and what’s important today is determination.

MH/PA