The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has categorically dismissed claims by a French daily newspaper that the group was already informed of the large-scale surprise attack by members of Hamas and other Gaza-based resistance fighters against Israel in early October.
Hezbollah’s media bureau in a statement late on Friday described Le Figaro's allegations as “purely fictitious” and “baseless.”
The movement noted that such claims “are meant to undermine the absolute trust among resistance movements and factions across the region,” emphasizing, “These groups are committed openly and practically to resistance against the Zionist occupation.”
Hezbollah reiterated its Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's previous remarks that Al-Aqsa Storm Operation was purely Palestinian, and its objectives, planning, preparations as well as execution were all set and carried out by Palestinians themselves without external involvement.
The Lebanese resistance movement emphasized it did not know of the Palestinian operation beforehand.
The statement noted that Le Figaro’s bias in favor of Israel is blatantly clear in the claims, denouncing their publication as an act “lacking any moral principles and ethics.”
“Much like many Western media outlets, the French daily newspaper sided with the oppressor (Israel) at the expense of uncovering truth and facts, and promoting human values,” Hezbollah pointed out.
French newspaper Le Figaro alleged on December 26 that Nasrallah was informed of Hamas’s plans to launch the multi-pronged Al-Aqsa Storm Operation half an hour before it began.
According to the bogus report, senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, who resides in Lebanon, received a phone call on the morning of October 7, informing him of the imminent operation and requesting that he inform Hezbollah chief.
Israel waged the bloody war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm in the occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s incessant crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed 21,320 Palestinians, including 6,200 women and 8,200 children, and injured more than 55,600 others.
It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.