Hezbollah leader vows response to Israeli assassination of top military commander

“The resistance’s response to the assassination of commander Fuad Shukr is settled and there is no discussion about it,” the secretary-general of Hezbollah said Thursday, speaking at the funeral of the slain commander.

“Several countries have asked Hezbollah not to respond to the Israeli strike on Beirut’s suburbs. We are before a major battle and we have entered a new phase that exceeds the issue of support fronts,” he added.

He stressed that Shukur’s assassination will increase the resolve, determination and willpower of Hezbollah.

Nasrallah said Israel deliberately carried out a rocket attack that killed a dozen people in the occupied Golan Heights in order to make up an excuse for the assassination of resistance commanders.

“The Zionist enemy accused Hezbollah of being behind the strike on the town of Majdal Shams without providing any evidence. Our internal investigation determined that we had nothing to do with what happened there,” Nasrallah stated.

“The motive behind the Majdal al-Shams rocket strike was to pit the Druze community in the occupied Golan Heights against local Shia Muslims. Hezbollah would have acknowledged responsibility had it committed a mistake that led to the death of civilians.”

Nasrallah stated that Israeli authorities rushed to pin the blame for the Majdal Shams attack on Hezbollah as soon as they found out that the majority of the fatalities were children.

“We have a great deal of evidence that shows missiles launched by Israeli systems have frequently hit the city of Acre and other areas in the occupied territories,” he added.

The Hezbollah chief denounces the strike in Beirut that killed Shukr as “an act of aggression and not simply an assassination”.

“The aggression targeted civilian and not military buildings. Days before the attack, the Israeli enemy alleged that its action would be in reprisal for the Majdal Shams incident. We do not accept such assertion.”

“We are paying the price of our support for Gaza and the Palestinian cause. This is not something new and we accept such a cost,” he continued.

Nasrallah also emphasized that Iran will not remain idle after the assassination of the head of the political bureau of the Hamas resistance movement, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.

“Iran considers that its sovereignty, image and honor have been encroached on, because Haniyeh was its guest. I tell the Israelis that they can laugh a little now because they will cry a lot later.”

“Do they imagine that they can kill Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and still expect Iran to stand idly by?” the Hezbollah chief stated.