The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safieddine, announced on 20 February that the Lebanese will take it upon themselves to build a “new Lebanon” if the external pressure on the country continues. Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, has previously stated that the resistance group is capable of expunging US influence from the country and its institutions.
“We possess the minds and capabilities that will qualify us, with all the loyal and honorable people, to rebuild a strong, impregnable, resistant, fortified and independent Lebanon, which preserves its maritime and land sovereignty, oil and water resources, and preserves the present and future of this country for further generations,” Safieddine said during a meeting in the Zawtar al-Sharqiya town of Nabatiya, southern Lebanon.
“The Americans want to exert maximum pressure on us, and I think we must choose the maximum option in relying on ourselves…and sweep away the Americans and their cronies in Lebanon,” he added.
The senior Hezbollah official went on to say that it is the US and its allies who wish to prevent Lebanon from building a real economy, which ultimately serves Israeli political interests.
Safieddine has previously warned that Lebanon is prepared to expel the US and eradicate its influence across the country’s institutions. “The US is an enemy no less hostile than Israel, and sometimes more hostile than Israel,” he said during an internal party meeting on 4 October.
“Beware. Don’t test our patience,” Safieddine warned at the time.
The meeting in southern Lebanon comes just days after a Hezbollah drone entered deep into the occupied territories on a reconnaissance mission and made its way back into the country unscathed, despite a failed Israeli attempt at shooting it down.
The incursion prompted Israel to retaliate by sending two F-16 fighter jets into Lebanon, flying at low altitude over the capital city of Beirut as a show of intimidation, and causing panic among residents.
