November 3, 2023, Bierut, Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah addressed his followers on Friday, making his first comments on the Israel-Hamas war since it broke out on October 7.
Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has escalated along their fraught border in recent weeks. The Lebanese armed group claims to have lost 57 fighters while Israel says that six of its soldiers have been killed in their exchange of fire and missiles. At least six civilians have also been killed.
Many expected Nasrallah to announce the group’s next moves, but he refrained from doing so, instead condemning the Israeli attacks Gaza.
Here are the key highlights from his address:
The October attack was an exclusively Palestinian operation
Nasrallah began the speech by praising “the fallen martyrs” of Hezbollah and the other groups fighting Israel, as well as the civilians killed.
He then also thanked the “strong and brave Iraqi and Yemeni hands who are now involved in this holy war,” in an apparent reference to armed groups in the two countries — including the Houthis in Yemen — who are allies of Hezbollah and have launched attacks against Israel or the United States in recent days.
He described the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, as “a big event to shake this oppressive … occupying, usurping Zionist regime and its supporters in Washington and London”.
Source- Al-Jazeera
