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‘Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future’
In his video message on Tuesday night, Netanyahu urged Lebanese citizens to take the country back from Hezbollah control.
“You, the Lebanese people, you stand at a significant crossroads. It is your choice,” he said. Lebanese citizens “can now take back your country. You can return it to a path of peace and prosperity.”
If not, Netanyahu added, “Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense.”
The prime minister saidthe Lebanese people “deserve to restore Lebanon to its days of tranquility; you deserve a Lebanon that is different… Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done.”
He said the people of Lebanon “have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way… Free your country from Hezbollah so that your country can prosper again, so that future generations of Lebanese and Israeli children will know neither war nor bloodshed, but will finally live together in peace.”
Earlier Tuesday, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem, one of the last surviving members of the group’s top leadership, claimed that “our capabilities are fine and our fighters are deployed along the frontlines.”
Qassem also claimed that Hezbollah supports efforts by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, an ally of the group, to secure a ceasefire in the fighting, which has escalated in recent weeks.
According to a Channel 12 report on Tuesday citing unnamed sources in Beirut, Iran is pushing Hezbollah to seek out a ceasefire deal in order to “cut its losses” after a long list of top officials in the group have been killed in recent weeks.
Visiting Beirut on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran backs efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon on the condition it would be backed by Hezbollah and be simultaneous with a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that Qassem’s public backing of ceasefire efforts shows that Hezbollah is “on the back foot and is getting battered,” leading the group to “change their tune.”
A year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated significantly last month, triggered by a coordinated explosion across Lebanon of pagers and walkie-talkies in an attack widely attributed to but not claimed by Israel.
Iranian television on Monday broadcast footage of Hezbollah members wounded in the pager attack visiting the Imam Reza shrine in Iran’s Mashhad, the world’s largest mosque.
The wounds suffered by the operatives in the attack were highlighted in the footage, with close-up shots of bandages covering what appear to be missing fingers and other injuries.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-israel-killed-nasrallahs-replacement-and-his-replacements-replacement/