Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem: This Is Not The Final War To Liberate Jerusalem, Palestine; We Accomplished All Our Goals In This War, Have No Plans To Expand It; The Main Goal – End The War On Gaza

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said that Hizballah does not seek an all-out war at this time. In a June 7, 2024 interview with Al-Rabiaa TV (Iraq), he explained that this is not the final war to completely liberate Jerusalem and Palestine, but only to stop the war in Gaza. Qassem continued to say that Hizbullah has accomplished all its goals in the war by keeping the Israeli military occupied in the north and driving out Israelis from norther Israel, making them become a burden on the Israeli government. He stressed that an all-out war would not serve Gaza or Lebanon at this time.

Naim Qassem: "It does not take two hours to reach Jerusalem by car. Reaching Jerusalem requires sacrifices, big efforts, martyrdom, capabilities, an axis, fighting Palestinians... All these are needed for Jerusalem to be liberated. People who think this is the time to completely liberate Jerusalem, and to plant our flag there, are wrong in their analysis.

"We are now engaged in one of the battles that will lead to the liberation of Jerusalem. We are not in the final war. In this war, we are doing everything that is needed from us. When Nasrallah said that this is a complete war, he was right because what is happening on the battlefront has all the elements of war, but it is not an all-out war. It is a complete war in the area where it is taking place but it is not an all-out war with regard to Lebanon in its entirety, because we do not think that turning this into an all-out war would serve Gaza or Lebanon. It will not. We already did [the things] that could serve them. If there is something else we can do to serve Gaza we will do it, but not an all out war, because this is not the right time.

"Liberation requires sufficient capabilities, appropriate circumstances, and a balance of power between the warring parties. In our estimate, all the elements in place right now do not allow for a complete liberation at the moment. I am talking about now, about this period of time. So why are we being asked to go all in when this is not the right time for complete liberation. We do what suits the current period and the current requirements.

"The main goal right now is to end the war in Gaza. It needs to stop. We set goals for this war. What were the goals? To support Gaza, to reduce the force of the Israeli army by preoccupying it in Northern Palestine, to drive out a number of settlers [ from Northern Israel] so that they would become a burden on Israel and that they would become worried and exert pressure on the Israeli government. We have accomplished all the goals that we had set. There are no other goals at the current stage that require us to expand our operations."