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Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on November 29 declared victory over Israel and pledged to coordinate closely with the Lebanese military to implement the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.
“We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah… [and] from annihilating or weakening the resistance,” Qassem said in his first speech since the ceasefire agreement came into effect on November 27.
Under the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will have 60 days to withdraw from the towns it currently occupies in southern Lebanon. During the same period, the Lebanese military will take responsibility for the region and a U.S.-led committee will be established to adjudicate complaints regarding potential ceasefire violations.
Hezbollah is also supposed to leave southern Lebanon, and its military infrastructure should be dismantled. The U.S. has also reportedly provided a side letter specifying Israel’s rights to respond to any violations of the ceasefire.
Qassem said Hezbollah had “approved the deal, with the resistance strong in the battlefield, and our heads held high with our right to defend [ourselves].”
“The resistance will be ready to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Lebanon’s weakness along with our partners… first and foremost the army,” he stressed.
“The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese military will be at a high level to implement the commitments of the agreement,” Qassem continued, adding that “no one is betting on problems or disagreements” with the military.
The Lebanese military has already sent additional troops to the south but is reportedly preparing a detailed deployment plan.
Qassem also vowed in his speech that Hezbollah’s support for Palestine “will not stop and will continue through different means.”
“To those that were betting that Hezbollah would be weakened, we are sorry, their bets have failed,” the leader said.
The IDF had warned that any violation of the ceasefire agreement would be met with a response. On November 27, it said that a mobile medium-range Hezbollah rocket launcher was struck in southern Lebanon after it moved. Lebanese media reported other Israeli attacks, including one that targeted a funeral in the town of Khiam.
Also on November 27, the IDF published a summary of its activities against Hezbollah over the past 14 months of the conflict, which broke out after the group began launching attacks against Israel in response to the war on the Gaza Strip.
According to IDF data, Israeli strikes hit over 12,500 Hezbollah targets, including 1,600 command centers and 1,000 weapons depots since the terror group began its near-daily attacks on October 8, 2023.
The conflict between the IDF and Hezbollah claimed the lives of more than 3,800 in Lebanon and at least 121 others in Israel.
While the U.S.-brokered ceasefire has ended the fighting, the conflict is not yet resolved. Senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has already warned that Israel would resume military operations against Hezbollah if the agreement collapses.
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