Nasrallah to Netanyahu: We Accept the Challenge, Defining Victory by the Return of the Displaced / The Support Front Will Not Cease Until a Gaza Agreement is Reached… the Response is Coming, and Actions Will Speak For Themselves

September 20, 2024

Albinaa’ Newspaper Headlines

The political editor wrote

The resistance appears to have successfully contained the harsh blow resulting from electronic security operations targeting wireless communication devices where the occupation’s intelligence rigged devices with explosives with complete indifference that the devices are used by not only the resistance fighters but include civilians, as well as those who work in municipalities, and health institutions.

Despite this unprecedented and difficult attack, the resistance remains confident in the stability of its environment and the strength of its structure. It is also reassured by the overwhelming Lebanese and Arab solidarity, alongside international sympathy, in stark contrast to the widespread condemnation of the occupation’s crime and aggression.

As a result, the resistance wasted no time in activating its support front from southern Lebanon to bolster Gaza, its people, and its resistance against the relentless Israeli aggression. The resistance escalated its operations, doubling the daily number of attacks with missiles and drones on occupation sites and settlements. By midnight, it had carried out 17 operations, with the occupation’s military admitting to the losses, including the deaths of officers and soldiers and dozens of injuries. Meanwhile, the occupation launched 50 airstrikes on various locations, including several villages in southern Lebanon.

The resistance’s assessment of the situation and its strategy for dealing with it were articulated by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. He adopted a position of ambiguity regarding the forthcoming response, calling it severe punishment and just retribution, but refrained from further details, simply stating, “Let actions speak for themselves”. This ambiguity, coupled with the absence of clear power equations in his speech, prevented the occupation’s leadership from capitalising on escalatory rhetoric to push for broader military action, which it sought to divert attention from Gaza. For the resistance, Gaza remains the core of the conflict, and it is precisely why the support front was opened.

Nasrallah emphasised that the response will speak for itself, particularly as retaliation for the blood that was shed. However, the most crucial response to the aggression is in foiling its objectives, which revolve around ongoing attempts to separate the Lebanese and Gaza fronts, and undermine the supportfront’s function which confuses the occupation and imposes a burden on them that forces a negotiated agreement that they do not want to make with Gaza’s resistance to withdraw, end the war, and exchange prisoners. Nasrallah reaffirmed that this support will persist and escalate until the war on Gaza ceases.

Nasrallah outlined the equation of victory and defeat between the resistance and the occupation, rooted in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement linking the recent escalation with Lebanon to the return of displaced settlers from northern occupied Palestine, bypassing any agreement with Gaza’s resistance – a condition insisted upon by the resistance. This stance has garnered international, Arab, and Lebanese consensus. Notably, the White House yesterday affirmed that any agreement to end the war in Gaza would also ensure a ceasefire and the return of the displaced on the Lebanon front.

Nasrallah stated that the resistance accepts the challenge, posing the question of whether the occupation can return the displaced settlers without a Gaza agreement, or if it will be forced to secure such an agreement for their return. He reiterated the resistance’s commitment to preventing their return until an agreement is reached to end the war on Gaza.