BEIRUT (Dispatches) –
A high-ranking official with Lebanon’s Hezbollah has hit out against efforts to undermine the resistance movement, warning that those behind such efforts seek to “pawn” the nation to foreign countries.
During a memorial service in the Lebanese village of Babliyeh, Hashem Safi al-Din, head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, slammed on Sunday certain parties that believe they can undermine the resistance by siege and sanctions and described them as “fools”.
“If some people imagine that they can weaken this resistance by siege, elections or sanctions, then I tell them: You are stupid, and fools,” He added that such people don’t read history and don’t know that “the secret of our strength is our faith and trust in God Almighty.”
Safi al-Din also stressed that those who conspire against the resistance are seeking to normalize ties between Beirut and the Zionist regime, stressing that, “This project will not pass and we won’t accept it.”
Back in September 2020, the United Aram Emirates and Bahrain signed normalization deals with the occupying regime. Morocco and Sudan later signed similar agreements with the regime as well. Palestinians have denounced the normalization deals, describing them as a “stab in the back” and a “betrayal” to their cause.
Those who conspire against the resistance are “dreaming of normalization and perhaps dreaming of more, and this is their true [face], and they want to tell us that normalization amounts to Arabism and resistance is outside Arabism,” he said.
The Hezbollah official also stressed that Hezbollah is determined to go on resisting against the enemy.
He added that “today we live in the bliss of victories and never experience humiliation and weakness, so we are continuing on the path of strong and present resistance to confront the enemy, and we will not retreat, but rather grow stronger.”
Hezbollah was established following the 1982 Zionist invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. The movement drove out Zionist troops from Lebanon in May 2000.
Since then, the group has grown into a powerful military force, dealing repeated blows to the Israeli military, including during a 33-day war in July 2006.
Lebanon has been mired in a deep economic and financial crisis since late 2019. The crisis is the gravest threat to the country’s stability since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
The economic and financial crisis is mostly linked to the sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed on Lebanon as well as foreign intervention in the Arab nation’s domestic affairs.
Compounding the woes, Saudi Arabia has imposed its own sanctions, including banning its citizens from traveling to Lebanon where Riyadh-backed elements have been jockeying for positions.