Hezbollah lawmaker says ‘no choice but resistance’ as Israel expands aggression in Lebanon
A senior Lebanese parliamentarian says Hezbollah will continue its military operations against Israeli forces, rejecting a path of “humiliation” as Israel pressed deeper into southern Lebanon with airstrikes and ground invasions that have killed thousands of civilians.
Hassan Fadlallah, a member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc in the Lebanese Parliament, said the ongoing “bloody aggression” by Israel is aimed at occupying land and displacing the population.
His remarks came as the Israeli military intensified strikes across the south, hitting healthcare facilities and residential areas in what humanitarian groups warn is a widening war.
“We are facing a bloody Israeli aggression aimed at occupying our land and expelling us from it. There is no choice but resistance and steadfastness,” Fadlallah said in comments reported by Lebanese outlets.
The Israeli escalation has shattered a fragile ceasefire, unleashing a massive air campaign and a ground invasion that has pushed north of the Litani River for the first time in decades.
Fadlallah said Hezbollah is fighting a regular army equipped with advanced weapons. He said the resistance’s goal is not to hold static defensive lines but to “exhaust” the enemy through ambushes and prevent it from consolidating control over Lebanese territory.
“The resistance will continue its operations to prevent the enemy from stabilizing its presence, even if it enters the villages of the south,” Fadlallah said, vowing to replicate the group’s success in forcing an Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory in 2000.
“What is before our country is either surrender or war. We will not bow our heads.”
The comments signal a hardening stance just days before planned talks between Lebanese and Israeli military officials in Washington, which Hezbollah has rejected.
‘Unprecedented’ destruction and medical crisis
As Fadlallah spoke, Israeli warplanes and drones struck the south, including the city of Nabatieh and the towns of Kfar Roumnan, Shoukine, and Ain Qana. One strike hit a health center in the town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, a pattern of attacks that has drawn condemnation from international medical groups.
Hezbollah has inflicted heavy losses on Israeli forces with a devastating campaign of fiber-optic FPV drone strikes, prompting Israel to desperately expand its military aggression to Beirut for the second time since a ceasefire went into effect early April.
Data from Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health indicates a systematic targeting of emergency responders. Since March 2, at least 42 paramedics have been killed, according to ministry records, with the total death toll across Lebanon surpassing 3,300 and injuries exceeding 10,000.
The head of the Lebanese Red Cross told Al Jazeera that there are “no safe corridors” for rescuers to reach the wounded. Four hospitals in the south have been forced out of service entirely.
Fadlallah said the United States is providing political and military cover for the invasion, stating that the Israeli crimes are carried out with a “green light from America and a suspicious silence from the government in Beirut.”
He also said the Lebanese government is using ongoing negotiations as a “political platform” for the enemy.
Fadlallah said Israel is attempting to replicate the occupation of the Golan Heights seized from Syria and annexed internationally unrecognized by seeking to annex southern Lebanon and depopulate its villages.
“The goal mapped out for this aggression is to occupy the south and displace its residents so that the Zionists can annex it to their entity, just like they did with the Golan,” Fadlallah said.
“But the existence of the resistance and the steadfastness of our people prevent the enemy’s historical ambitions from being realized.”
With diplomatic efforts stalled and Iranian officials insisting a Lebanon truce must be part of any broader nuclear deal with Washington, Fadlallah signaled that the front in southern Lebanon will remain active regardless of international pressure.
“Iran insists on stopping the aggression against Lebanon and will not accept an agreement that excludes Lebanon,” he said, adding that the enemy is trying to intensify strikes before a potential US-Iranian understanding is reached.
“The enemy is trying to exploit the government’s insistence on continuing negotiations to commit more massacres.”
