‘Hezbollah determined to fully liberate Israeli-occupied Lebanese lands’

The head of the religious council of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says fighters of the movement are determined to fully liberate the Israeli-occupied territories in the southern areas of the Arab country.

Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek made the remarks while speaking at a ceremony in commemoration of Ashura, which marks the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the third Shias' Imam and the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny), in the southern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Saturday.

“Thanks to the path of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and fallen fighters who sacrificed their lives, [most of] the Lebanese territories were taken back from the enemy,” Sheikh Yazbek said.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces seized the northern sector of the divided border village of Ghajar and cut it off from Lebanon.

Ghajar, which lies in a strategic corner where the borders between Syria, Lebanon and Occupied Palestinian Territories meet, was occupied by Israel in the 2006 war. Some 2,000 people live there.

In November 2010, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to withdraw from the northern part of the village. Until this day, however, Israel has not withdrawn from the village. 

Lebanese officials have said that Israel has built a wall around the Lebanese part of Ghajar, warning that the regime might annex it to the occupied part of the village.

Earlier this month, Hezbollah issued a harsh statement slamming Israel’s works around the Lebanese part of Ghajar as “dangerous.”

It added that the wall is separating the area “from its natural and historic surroundings in Lebanon.”

Almost at the same time, an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon near Ghajar, with some fragments landing in Lebanon and others inside Israeli-occupied territory. Israel fired shells on the outskirts of the nearby village of Kfarchouba.

ME