By Wesam Bahrani

Lebanon's iron resolve: Israeli aggression will fail to silence resistance

September 21, 2024 - 19:52

TEHRAN - Alongside the military commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmad Wahbi, Lebanon’s Hezbollah has mourned 14 of its fighters “with pride”, in the Israeli assault on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.

The Lebanese resistance was quick to reveal the identities of those martyred after rescue teams worked throughout the night to remove rubble following the Israeli aggression that targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut. 

The terrorist attack resulted in dozens of civilian casualties, including women and children who were killed in residential buildings. 

Along with its prominent commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmad Wahbi, which Hezbollah published a biography of their resistance activities against the Israeli occupation, the movement also named 14 other fighters who were killed in the aggression on Friday. 

Hezbollah’s military media stated that the martyrs Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmad Wahbi were among the heroic senior commanders who fought with the resistance against the Israeli invasion of Beirut in the early 1980s. 

The Israeli occupation waged a terrorist attack on Beirut's southern suburb, targeting an eight-story residential building, which resulted in dozens of civilian casualties, including a large number of children and women.

Hezbollah has warned it would give a crushing response to Israel if Tel Aviv decides to wage a full-scale war on Lebanon.

On Friday, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General declared a change to the equation with the Israeli occupation vowing that any Israeli invasion of Lebanon would not stop the Lebanese resistance from continuing to target Israeli military positions in the north and beyond. 

He also pledged that the estimated 300,000 Israelis, who have been displaced from the north would not return until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.  

History has shown that the assassination of Hezbollah commanders has only made the movement more powerful and more determined in its armed resistance against the Israeli occupation. 

Israeli army radio reports attack on Beirut suburbs was carried out using American bunker-buster bombs

The terror attack on Beirut on Friday has been condemned by the international community as well as the United Nations. 

Under international law, the Friday terror attack was a war crime. Parties at war are prohibited from killing civilians to target their enemy combatants. Tel Aviv has shown it shows no regard for international law amid its nearly one-year genocide in the Gaza Strip. 

The civilian death toll from the Israeli terror attacks on Lebanon this week, that included the detonation of communication devices, has been rising by the day as hundreds remain in critical condition. 

The death toll from the pager and walkie-talkie explosions along with a drone attack this week currently stands at 70. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, at least 37 people were killed in the raid on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday.

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said that Israel must be held accountable for “unfathomable” attacks that killed Lebanese civilians.

Speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, Bou Habib said, “No one in this world is safe anymore in the aftermath of the electronic attacks which were carried out recently in Lebanon. Those were unfathomable attacks. They have led to the injury of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.”

The top Lebanese diplomat has joined others in warning that inaction by the council against the Israeli regime would embolden it to take the region down a path that would have devastating consequences. 

“If this terrorist attack is not condemned by your council — and if you do not name the perpetrator, if you do not deter the perpetrator, condemn it, and compel it to stop such aggressions — the credibility of this council, of international law, and of human rights law, are at stake.”

Bou Habib added, “Accepting what happened amounts to opening a Pandora’s box.” 

Hezbollah has already struck the Israeli occupation with hundreds of rockets and has vowed to continue its operations until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza “no matter what the cost”.