Hezbollah Vows ‘Full-Fledged’ War Hours Ahead of U.S. Embassy Move to Jerusalem

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Palestinians will never be defeated and “will not accept” the U.S. embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Lebanon-based deputy chief of Iran’s narco-terrorist proxy Hezbollah declared hours before the dedication of the new American consulate building on Monday.

Echoing the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Sheikh Naim Qassem also vowed a “full-fledged and unrestricted battle” against what Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency described as “occupiers” in Israel.

Palestinians and their allies often use “occupier” to refer to the Israelis and their allies.

In December, the terrorist-linked MB, consistent with the position of other jihadist groups, pledged to “shed blood” and “wage war” against the United States after American President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directed his government to move the American embassy to the city.

According to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency, Qassem indicated on Monday that “Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement dismissed any attempt at compromise with Israel [over the U.S. embassy move], saying the Palestinian nation will never be defeated but will keep resistance against the Tel Aviv regime.”

Qassem’s comments came at a meeting of the International Union of Resistance Scholars in Beirut marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding—what the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”

“God willing, the nakba that happened 70 years ago will be a motive for change and liberation,” Qassem said.

Deadly and escalating clashes over the U.S. embassy move have broken out between Palestinians and Israelis.

Israelis welcomed U.S. President Trump’s decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem while Palestinians oppose it. Palestinians have designated East Jerusalem as the capital of their desired state. Territorial disputes have long plagued the Israeli-Palestinian relationship with Jerusalem at the epicenter of the ongoing conflict.

Sheikh Qassem also proclaimed on Monday that the Trump administration’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is a unilateral step “that Palestinians will not accept, and therefore it is worthless.”

Qassem argued that the Iranian missile attack last week against Israel’s Golan Heights affirmed “the balance of deterrence” between Israel and its regional enemies.

Iran’s narco-terrorist proxy is considered a legitimate political party in Lebanon. On May 6, Lebanon held parliamentary elections. Hezbollah won a significant number of the 128 seats in parliament, a victory that further consolidates the group’s power in Lebanon.

“The official results showed they took at least 43 of the legislature’s 128 seats, giving them the power to veto laws,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. “Hezbollah maintained its bloc of 12 members, like in the previous parliament. Other pro-Syrian factions made their strongest showing since Damascus ended a nearly three-decade military presence in Lebanon in 2005.”

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah noted that the elections produced a lawmaking body in Lebanon that could protect the group’s “strategic choices,” an apparent reference to the Iran-backed party’s fighting force, CNN reported

“Today I can say that our goals have been achieved,” Nasrallah declared, on May 7, calling the results a “great moral and political victory.”

Hezbollah fighters are fighting alongside the Iranian and Russian backed forces loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Together with other Iranian proxies and Russian troops, Hezbollah has helped Assad remain in power, to the dismay of the United States.

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), considered the largest body of predominantly Muslim countries, said Monday it “strongly rejects and condemns” the Trump administration’s “deplorable action” to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

OIC nations deemed the move an “illegal decision” and “an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people.”

The organization added that the decision also represents “an affront to international peace and security.”

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