Hezbollah official: Without US support, Israel might have fallen within days

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem, in an interview with the El Mundo and Corriere della Sera newspapers, affirmed, "When a war occurs against us by Israel, we have no choice but to defend at any cost. Therefore, we do not question if war breaks out, why are you resisting?"

He added: "If some want to know if we fear Israel's threats, we do not fear them. If Israel decides to wage war, we will face it with all the strength we have to bring it down, and we have every confidence that we will win any war we engage in with the Israeli entity."

He said: "As for whether war will happen now or not, this is linked to the developments taking place in Gaza and is also linked to Israel's decision to initiate the war, and this is one of the things that we do not know now. So, is it possible that things will expand? This is possible, but we cannot be certain it will happen."

Responding to a question about whether the party agrees with some aspects of what happened in the recent operations, Qassem said, "We should focus on the main goal of October 7, which is to carry out resistance to address many issues concerning the Palestinians, release captives, and not focus on the details that occurred to justify the extensive massacres."

He affirmed: "Our perspective is that matters should return to the origin. Who caused October 7? The Israeli occupying entity caused it. October 7 is a reaction and resistance."

Asked if Israel has the right to security, Qassem responded, "We must ask why Israel continues its occupation and why it is covered by the US and major powers. They must end the occupation to restore stability to Palestine and the region."

Qassem addressed his interviewers, saying, "The problem with your questions is that you start from the wrong place, and therefore, you will not find an answer. You start from the premise that Israel has a right to the land and is being attacked!"

"Therefore, all the questions come in the wrong way. We start from the premise that Palestine is for the Palestinians, and Israel is an occupier. So, we must address the problem of the occupation, not the problem of resistance against it."

Asked if they consider Israel weak, Qassem said, "I think you heard the speech of Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Bint Jbeil in 2000, where he said, 'Israel is weaker than a spider's web.' This is our conviction that Israel is weak militarily, ethically, politically, and in terms of the people's commitment to protect these occupied countries."

He confirmed that "if Israel is currently standing on its feet despite this aggression, it is because the US manages and guides it, continuously opening air routes for supplies and weapons, and supports it in terms of administration, security, and everything else. Without this, Israel might have fallen within days."