TEHRAN- The Secretary-General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Tuesday that if the Israeli occupation regime “persists in targeting [Lebanese] civilians it would compel [Hezbollah] to launch rockets and target new settlements not previously targeted”.

During a speech marking the tenth of Muharram, the anniversary of Ashura, Seyyed Nasrallah affirmed that “the resistance in its ongoing battle is victorious for all the peoples of the region who have come under attack by the Israeli entity through occupation, massacres, aggression, and threats.”

He praised "the brave fighters of Gaza,” describing them as “heroes and knights,” and also delivered a message to the people of the besieged enclave, whom he branded as “the patient and steadfast, epitomes of perseverance and resilience in our time”. 

For more than nine months, more than two million in the Gaza Strip have faced a U.S.-backed Israeli genocidal war. Daily massacres have killed more than 38,000 people, the majority of them women and children amid little action by the international community to end the genocide. 

Nasrallah saluted Yemen’s support for the Gaza front, saying, “Yemen managed to block ships linked to the aggression from crossing the Red Sea to occupied Palestine and imposed a blockade on Eilat port, which has gone bankrupt, according to Zionist officials.”

“The essence of Ashura is to triumph for the oppressed,” he underlined. 

The Hezbollah chief added, “We are here to ensure that Palestine triumphs, we are here for the oppressed Gaza Strip, for the West Bank, and for the people of Lebanon,” emphasizing that “Lebanon has entered a new chapter in its history since October 8, when it opened a military front in solidarity with people and resistance in Gaza”. 

He said this front was opened because it is a battle for the entire people of Lebanon. “We stand firm in addition to the supportive fronts for Gaza in Yemen, Iraq, alongside our allies Syria and Iran”. 

He underscored that there are three Arab countries still suffering directly from occupation, aggression, terrorism, and Israel: Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.

The leader of the Lebanese resistance movement pointed out that “the Israeli occupation army admitted for the first time that it suffers from a shortage of tanks due to their damage in the battle fronts in Gaza and the north.”

Nasrallah threatened the Israeli occupation army, warning, “If your tanks cross into Lebanon and southern Lebanon, you will not suffer from a shortage of tanks because you will not have any tanks left.” 

During his speech, Nasrallah reiterated that if the Israeli military persists in killing Lebanese civilians it will only compel Hezbollah to launch more rockets and target new settlements that have not been targeted so far.  

Nasrallah stressed, “The Lebanon front will not stop as long as the aggression on Gaza continues.” He added, “For ten months, the threat of [a full-scale] war did not deter us even when Israel was not suffering from any shortages.” 

He added that "all the rumors about an agreement ready to be implemented on the southern Lebanese border are untrue,” confirming that “the future of what happens in the south will be decided based on the results of the war on Gaza.” 

Nasrallah commended the resilient and vigilant environment upon which the resistance movement in Lebanon relies, affirming that “the villages at the front line will be rebuilt as they were and even more beautifully because they are symbols of our steadfastness and resistance.” 

He pointed that “the Israeli entity is experiencing its worst conditions and days on all levels for the first time,” as its political and military leaders confess. “For the first time the occupation leaders and elites are speaking about the collapse and the demise [of the occupation regime].”

He added, "Despite Israel's aggression for ten months, it has been unable to achieve any of its goals and it is covering these failures with heinous massacres against civilians in Gaza.
 
“For the first time, Israel is suffering in every aspect, in its army, reliable systems, government, parties, society, security, and economy, all of which is the result of fighting and resilience in Gaza, the West Bank, and various fronts that have stood in solidarity with Palestine.”

Nasrallah continued, “All attempts by the entity to conceal its human and material losses, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or southern Lebanon, have begun to appear,” noting that “9,254 people, including officers and soldiers, were wounded, including 3,000 who had limbs amputated, 650 paralyzed cases, and 185 who were completely blinded, with several thousand suffering from severe psychological trauma.”

At the end of his speech, Seyyed Nasrallah held the United States fully responsible for the massacres committed by the occupation regime due to the regular shipments of weapons to Israel.