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Hezbollah deputy chief gives first speech since Nasrallah's assassination

Hezbollah's deputy chief gave the first speech since the assassination of Sayed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday afternoon.

The terror group will choose a successor to its slain general secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah “at the earliest opportunity” and continue the fight against Israel, the Iranian-backed group's deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Monday.

He spoke in a televised speech, the first appearance by a Hezbollah official since Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Friday.

“We will elect a general secretary for the party at the earliest possible date… and we will fill the leadership and positions permanently,” Qassem said while speaking in front of wooden panels from an undisclosed location.

Qassem said Hezbollah fighters continued to fire rockets to a depth of 150 kilometers into Israeli territory and were ready to face any possible Israeli ground attack.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem delivers a speech on Monday, September 30, 2024. (Source: via walla!)

Calls for patience

“What we are doing is the bare minimum… We know the fight can be protracted,” he said. “We will win, just as we won in the face of the Israeli enemy during the liberation in 2006,” he added, referring to the last bloody conflict between Israel and Lebanon.

Qassem, who urged his supporters to be patient, said Hezbollah must deal with the killing of its cadres by appointing replacements.

“Israel has not been able to match our military capabilities, and what its media says about achieving most medium and long-range capabilities is a dream they have not achieved and will never achieve,” he said, referring to on Hezbollah's rockets.

He also accused the United States of providing what he called “limitless” support to Israel.

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