Hezbollah fighters determined to fully liberate Israeli-occupied Lebanese lands: Top official

The head of the religious council of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says fighters of the movement are determined to fully liberate the Israeli-occupied territories in the southern areas of the Arab country.

Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek made the remarks while speaking at a ceremony in commemoration of Ashura, which marks the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam and the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon Him), in the southern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Saturday.

“Thanks to the path of Imam Hussein and fallen fighters who sacrificed their lives, [most of] the Lebanese territories were taken back from the enemy,” Sheikh Yazbek said.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces seized the northern sector of the divided border village of Ghajar and cut it off from Lebanon.

Ghajar, which lies in a strategic corner where the borders between Syria, Lebanon and occupied Palestinian territories meet, was occupied by Israel in the 2006 war. Some 2,000 people live there.

Lebanon: Israel must withdraw from strategic border village

Lebanon says Israel must withdraw its troops from the strategic border village of Ghajar after the regime erected fences to its north cutting it off from the Arab country.

In November 2010, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to withdraw from the northern part of the village. Until this day, however, Israel has not withdrawn from the village. 

Lebanese officials have said that Israel has built a wall around the Lebanese part of Ghajar, warning that the regime might annex it to the occupied part of the village.

Earlier this month, Hezbollah issued a harsh statement slamming Israel’s works around the Lebanese part of Ghajar as “dangerous.”

It added that the wall is separating the area “from its natural and historic surroundings in Lebanon.”

Almost at the same time, an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon near Ghajar, with some fragments landing in Lebanon and others inside Israeli-occupied territory. Israel fired shells on the outskirts of the nearby village of Kfarchouba.

Lebanon’s presidential election impasse

Elsewhere in his remarks, Sheikh Yazbek pointed to the Lebanese parliament’s failure to elect a new president and break a political deadlock that has gripped the country for months.

He underscored that the ongoing political impasse in Lebanon is due to the absence of dialogue among political factions and Washington’s interventions, adding that negotiations and understanding should prevail and no group should adopt hostile positions that would benefit the Israeli enemy and arrogant powers.

Hezbollah is ready to discuss a replacement for former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended last October, Sheikh Yazbek said, stressing he should independently and powerfully maintain the sovereignty of Lebanon and not yield to the diktats of others.

Lebanon’s presidency has seen stalemate several times since the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has also had only a caretaker government since May.

Lebanese lawmakers fail to elect president for 12th time

Lebanese lawmakers have failed in their 12th attempt to elect a president and fill in the country

The Arab country has been mired in an economic crisis that the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history, which comes amid crippling sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of its value on the black market since 2019.

According to the United Nations, the ongoing financial crisis in Lebanon has caused poverty rates to reach more than 80 percent of the population, and food prices have risen by an astonishing 2,000 percent. 

Creditors under the US influence such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have conditioned the release of billions of dollars in emergency loans to specific reforms which many observers would make the country dependent on the West.

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