Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said that his organization wants a ceasefire with Israel, with the terms to be decided after Israel stops firing, according to a Reuters report. The request is an indication that Hezbollah is in serious trouble.
Furthermore, Qassem didn’t even mention Gaza in his statement. The assassinated former Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had linked Hezbollah attacks on Israel, which he initiated on October 8th, 2023, to the war in Gaza, putting him on a tree he couldn’t climb down from.
The IDF has been systematically destroying Hezbollah’s leadership, infrastructure, weapons, terrorists and their capabilities in general, not to mention, massively bombing Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods of Beirut. Israel also officially began its ground incursion into Lebanon, taking over Hezbollah-controlled villages in southern Lebanon.
It’s unclear what Qassem hopes to gain from a ceasefire. Is it to recoup and rearm, or is it pure survival at this point?
It is not in Israel’s interest to leave an empowered Hezbollah, which will simply repeat their attacks at some later date. But it is in Israel’s interest to permanently push Hezbollah back past the Litani River and get Israel’s evacuated northern residents back home, though it’s unlikely Israeli residents will rush back home until Hezbollah no longer poses a definitive and immediate threat.
Israel has yet to respond to the statement.
Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy terror group.
