Saturday, 29/08/2026   
   Beirut 00:15
ArEnFrEs

Sites and Services

Channel

Sites

    Hezbollah’s Sheikh Qassem: We Broke the “Greater Israel” Project, Foiled Its Expansion into Lebanon

      Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech during the central Prophetic festival marking the birth of Prophet Mohammad and Islamic Unity Week in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, on August 28, 2026.

      Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Friday that the group had broken the “Greater Israel” project and would remain steadfast, declaring: “We will hold our heads high and will not surrender.”

      Sheikh Qassem made the remarks during a central religious festival organized by Hezbollah at the Ashoura Square in Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (Al-Mawlid Al-Nabawi) and his grandson, Imam Jaafar Al-Sadiq, as well as Islamic Unity Week.

      His Eminence said an aggressive US-Israeli project seeks to control and fragment the region and is being confronted by Iran and resistance forces. “The adversaries had left no opportunity for aggression but had failed and would continue to fail to achieve their objectives.”

      “The major sacrifices made in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and Iraq had halted the Zionist-American project targeting the region. We have sacrificed much and will not lose. Loss comes when we surrender and hand them everything with our own hands,” His Eminence declared.

      Sheikh Qassem said the Lebanese authorities had chosen a course that did not honor Lebanon by abandoning the November 27, 2024, agreement and entering direct negotiations with the enemy. “Honorable people, resistance fighters, those who had sacrificed, and their supporters from all sects rejected the authorities’ concessions. Who authorized you to surrender sovereignty?”

      His Eminence said the Lebanese authorities’ negotiations had not stopped the war but had instead legitimized it, describing them as “a humiliating surrender to the enemy with nothing in return.”

      “You are paying the price for the country in negotiations to remain on your thrones and appease America, which is complicit with Israel.”

      The Hezbollah secretary general stressed that the group did not want war, pointing to its acceptance of and commitment to the November 27, 2024, agreement. What is happening today, he said, “is not a mutual war but a defined Israeli aggression that ebbs and flows,” adding that it would not have eased without the US-Iranian memorandum of understanding.

      Sheikh Qassem affirmed the Israeli occupation’s project was “Greater Israel,” citing developments in Syria as evidence. He stressed that Hezbollah would remain in the field and reject the projects being proposed.

      “We broke the ‘Greater Israel’ project and prevented it from reaching Beirut and stripping Lebanon of its strength so that the enemy could not take control and settlements could begin,” he said.

      His Eminence added that “Israel” now dared not establish a settlement in southern Lebanon because the area remained unstable in the presence of the resistance. He also asserted that the Israeli occupation forces were afraid to draw borders beyond the territory it had occupied because it feared the resistance, its people, and those standing with it.

      Sheikh Qassem said Hezbollah was “in a state of confrontation” and would remain steadfast, accepting only the implementation of the October 27, 2024, agreement under the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

      “We oppose the framework agreement and call for its rejection,” he said, describing it as illegitimate, unlawful, and humiliating, and saying it undermined Lebanese sovereignty and failed to restore rights.

      Sheikh Qassem said that those who possessed such resistance, such as young people and a people willing to sacrifice for their country, could not be defeated.

      “Israel cannot achieve gains in the presence of the resistance, its people, the honorable, the martyrs, and the sacrifices. We are Karbala-inspired in achieving our goals.”

      “The sacrifices of our people are immense, and we will work together for their dignity, continue social assistance, and support reconstruction and restoration,” Qassem said. “We will hold our heads high and will not surrender. Let them do whatever they want.”

      Addressing Islamic unity, Qassem said the unity sought was one that would strengthen Muslims and foster integration and cooperation among them, particularly among states and peoples.

      He said Islamic unity was intended to free the nation from dependency and subjugation, confront sectarian, religious, and political divisions, and counter US and Israeli projects aimed at fragmenting the region. Unity, he said, meant turning toward the nation’s real enemy and moving beyond internal conflicts.

      Sheikh Qassem said Islamic unity had two outcomes: first, remaining united to prevent strife and extend that unity to the national and humanitarian levels; and second, uniting around the central cause of Palestine, which he said represented the future of the entire region.

      “It is time for our region to become secure through understanding among its states and to put an end to arrogance,” he said.

      On the anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Mous Sadr, Qassem said the imam had been “an icon, a leader, a role model, and a man of great vision,” adding that he had disappeared because he represented justice and humanity.

      Sheikh Qassem affirmed that Hezbollah would continue along the path of “the Imam of the Resistance,” Sayyed Mous Sadr, and that of Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, whom he described as the “Master of the Nation’s Martyrs.”

      Source: Al-Manar Website