1 month ago
 "pti/ap")
Israeli forces bombarded Beirut and parts of southern Lebanon as they unleashed a wave of retaliatory strikes on Wednesday | Photo: PTI/AP
With Israel likely to respond to Iran's recent missile attack, pushing West Asia (Middle East) to the brink of a broader war, Lebanon has urged India to initiate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his "war-minded" government to reduce tensions in the region, Lebanese ambassador to India, Rabie Narsh, told ThePrint. He also praised India's humanitarian aid in providing medical supplies to Lebanon.
Narsh defended the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah's right to resist what he described as "70 years" of continuous aggression from Israel, especially in the current "all-out war" Lebanon is facing.
In an interview published by the news portal on Wednesday, Narsh said, "Even without asking, India proposed humanitarian aid to Lebanon." According to Narsh, medical supplies for Lebanon are being prepared at present. He added that New Delhi is "investing in peace" and "playing an important role" in de-escalating the tense situation in West Asia.
Narsh added that Lebanon is encouraging India and calling upon it to "put more efforts", particularly on Israeli PM Netanyahu, and what the ambassador described as his "war-minded" and "racist" government, to put an end to this "devastating war".
His remarks follow over a week of Israeli incursions into southern Lebanon, which began on September 30. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has termed these actions a "violation" of Lebanon's sovereignty and a breach of UN Security Council resolution 1701.
UNIFIL, established in 1978, is a UN peacekeeping mission aimed at confirming Hezbollah's demilitarisation, supporting Lebanese army operations, and ensuring Israeli withdrawal to restore the Lebanese government's authority in Southern Lebanon.
According to the government in Lebanon, Israeli strikes against Hezbollah have killed over 2,000 Lebanese in the past year, most in the past few weeks, and destroyed areas of southern Beirut, Hezbollah's stronghold.
Hezbollah, founded in response to Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, has evolved into the most well-armed non-state actor globally, and is supported by Iran. It has also entered Lebanese politics, securing representation in the national parliament.
Asserting that Hezbollah is a Lebanese entity and a "political party" that is represented in the government, parliament, and administration, Narsh told the news portal, "When it comes to the framework of domestic politics in Lebanon, they (Hezbollah) function by the established rules of the Lebanese political system."
Western nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, along with Israel, the European Union, and several Arab countries, designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas, following the Palestinian militant group's attack on Israel the previous day that left nearly 1,200 Israelis dead and saw 250 hostages taken.
Since then, Israel's military operations and strikes in Gaza, which it says are meant to uproot Hamas, have killed nearly 42,000, a little over half of them women and children, and wounded over 96,000, according to Palestinian health officials.
Some 60,000 residents were also evacuated from Israel's northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after the October 7 attack, out of fear that Hezbollah would carry out a similar assault. Attacks on northern Israel have also resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians.
Having decided last month to make the return of northern residents to their homes an official war aim, Israel has intensified its operations to weaken Hezbollah after more than a year of conflict in Gaza. In September 2024, an explosion of electronic pagers used by Hezbollah injured thousands of Lebanese citizens, in an attack widely attributed to Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. Shortly thereafter, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
Narsh, however, was clear that Nasrallah's death would not end Hezbollah's resistance against Israel.
Emphasising that Hezbollah would always stand in resistance against Israel, Narsh stated, "Our resistance will keep on going, whether by Hezbollah or other resistance groups. The Lebanese people will not allow our land to be occupied by Israel again."
Narsh also labelled the pager explosion as a "terrorist attack" as it injured and killed "nurses, doctors, and social workers".
While acknowledging that some of Hezbollah's actions in southern Lebanon breached UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1701, Narsh justified it as Hezbollah's "right" to resist, given the ongoing Israeli attacks.
UNSC resolution 1701, unanimously passed in August 2006, sought to establish peace following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. It called for a buffer zone between the Blue Line in the south and the Litani River, prohibiting armed groups other than the Lebanese army and UNIFIL from operating in the area.
The Blue Line marks the withdrawal point of Israeli troops from Lebanon in 2000, a boundary recognised by the United Nations.
Hezbollah has continued operating in this buffer zone, as indicated in the UN Secretary-General's reports of missile launches towards Israel from the area.
Admitting that UNSC resolution 1701 might not have been respected by Hezbollah, Narsh still said that with the group under attack from "a regional superpower, as they (Israel) claim to be, you have the right to resist".
"You cannot stay silent when you are under attack every day," he added.
He further stated, "Who started the violation? Who has more power should be held more responsible, and this is what the international community says."
