Following Lebanese Hizbullah's Attacks On Tel Aviv, Hizbullah Political Council Deputy Chief Accuses U.S. Of Orchestrating Israeli 'Aggression' Against Lebanon, Threatens: 'We Respond To Fire With Additional Fire'

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On November 24, 2024, Israel stated that around 250 projectiles were fired by Lebanese Hizbullah into Israel, marking one of the heaviest aerial attacks mounted against Israel since fighting in Lebanon intensified. The attacks followed an Israeli air strike on central Beirut that same day, which according to the Lebanese health ministry killed 29.[1]

Commenting on Hizbullah's aerial attacks, the group's Political Council deputy chief Mahmoud Al-Qamati said in a televised interview with the Qatar-based Al-Araby TV channel: "[the projectiles] were a translation of the equation 'Beirut's fate will be Tel Aviv's fate.'"[2]

"We Do Not Brandish Empty Slogans"

In the interview, Al-Qamati stated that Hizbullah's operation represented a practical confirmation that the party "does not promote empty or baseless slogans that it cannot implement or does not have the ability to follow through on." He elaborated: "The resistance will not allow the enemy [Israel] to remain on any sliver of Lebanon's land."

Stressing that the Lebanese resistance calculates with care which targets to attack, he pointed out that among the "strong" messages conveyed by the operation was the fact that a missile reached Israel's southern city of Ashdod, about 150 kilometers from the border with Lebanon.

"Our long-range missiles can reach the deepest points in Israel; because we fight with a plan and a will, not with chaos. We seek to target Israeli military and security sites, unlike the random Israeli strikes which aim to kill women and children [and ] to inflict pain instead of [making strategic] gains."

"We Respond To Fire With More Fire"

Commenting on the ongoing negotiations with Israel to reach a ceasefire, Al-Qamati vowed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "will not be able to impose his conditions with fire," threatening: "Hizbuallah will meet fire with more fire; the resistance's attacks were evidence [of this]." He added: "Netanyahu is stalling in order to achieve whatever military progress [he can] and present a fait accompli, but no one can eliminate the resistance and its weapons."

"To The U.S.: Enough Deception And Hypocrisy"

While explaining that the negotiations are now centered around mechanisms for implementing the agreement, led by Lebanese officials in accordance with Hizbullah's representatives, the deputy chief stated that the group is cautious and that there can be no "excessive optimism or pessimism" regarding the possibility of reaching a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. He explained: "We know the enemy and its malicious ways."

Al-Qamati stressed that Hizbullah does not view the U.S. as a mediator, but rather "a party to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and Lebanese people." He went on to claim that the U.S. is orchestrating the "mass murders in Lebanon and Gaza, in addition to the destruction of the region, which is being carried out using American weapons." He further addressed the U.S., saying: "Enough deception and hypocrisy, we cannot be fooled."