Israel has ‘lost the war’ in Gaza even if it enters Rafah: Hezbollah leader

By Wassim Saifeddin

BEIRUT (AA) – Israel has “lost the war” in Gaza even if it enters the southern city of Rafah and the Israeli army is “exhausted” on all fronts, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday

“Even experts in Israel acknowledge the losses inflicted by the Axis of Resistance. After six months of fighting, the Hebrew state has failed to win a single victory or achieve a single objective. In the face of massacres, destruction and martyrdom, the people of Gaza continue to resist with strength and courage,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech amid the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“We say to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, even if you go to Rafah, you have lost the war, and you cannot eliminate Hamas or the resistance in Gaza despite all the massacres,” he added.

He said “the Israeli army today is tired and exhausted on all fronts, and the number of its casualties is very large and much larger than declared.”

Nasrallah noted that as a result of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and fighting on the northern front near Lebanon, there are not enough troops in the Israeli army to continue the war.

He said "the economic losses in southern Lebanon cannot be compared to the significant losses of the occupation in the southern front (of Gaza).”

Nasrallah emphasized that “the resistance in Iraq and its drones and rockets against the (Israeli) entity is a continuous and ongoing matter, and the supporting fronts will continue their work during the month of Ramadan.”

“Does anyone believe that US President Joe Biden cannot stop the war on Gaza? He is able to stop the aggression on Gaza easily, whether in the (UN) Security Council or elsewhere,” he said.

He described the airdropping of humanitarian aid into Gaza as “hypocrisy” but also “American stupidity.”

“What is required from the US administration is to stop the aggression on Gaza,” he stressed.

Nasrallah affirmed that the Palestinian group “Hamas negotiates on behalf of all resistance factions, and it negotiates not from a position of weakness but imposes conditions (on Israel).”

Clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah since Oct. 8 last year have resulted in casualties, including 242 Hezbollah members, 49 Lebanese civilians, 11 Amal Movement members, 12 Hamas members, 12 Islamic Jihad members, six Israeli civilians and 11 soldiers.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of weapons fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

Hostilities escalated as Israel continued its military offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed More than 31,000 Palestinians since Hamas launched a cross-border incursion into Israel last October.

At least 300 people are estimated to have been killed in Lebanon, including 240 Hezbollah fighters, since then. Nearly 20 Israelis have also been killed, according to Israeli figures.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala