A confrontation with Israel is inevitable if its occupation of southern Lebanon continues, Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem said Sunday.
The secretary-general, who was appointed as head of the Iran-backed Shia militant group last year after Israel assassinated the former leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, spoke to Al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah.
"We committed to the [ceasefire] agreement while the enemy violates it…it assaults people far from the border in their cars and in their homes," Qassem said.
"If the Israeli occupation continues, it must be confronted by the army, the people and the resistance, while some want liberation through diplomacy".
Despite the US-brokered ceasefire deal which ended more than a year of fighting, Israel continues to conduct airstrikes in Lebanese territory, claiming that it is stopping Hezbollah from rebuilding itself.
It has bombed south Lebanon and eastern regions along the border with Syria, allegedly targeting militant infrastructure and weapon shipments as well as Hezbollah personnel.
On Monday, Israeli forces reportedly kidnapped a Lebanese soldier from the border area of Kfarshuba, some of which remains under Israeli occupation.
The off-duty soldier had reportedly been shot and wounded by Israeli troops before being kidnapped and taken into Israel.
Israel and Lebanon have not yet commented on the incident.
Under the 27 November ceasefire deal, Israel was obliged to completely pull out of southern Lebanon but has instead kept troops in five strategic border locations, claiming their "indefinite" stay was necessary for Israel’s security.
The Lebanese government stresses diplomacy is the only way to end the occupation. Analysts say a weakened Hezbollah is incapable of renewing fighting with Israel.
But Hezbollah says diplomacy will not force Israel out, and while the militant group is obliged under the ceasefire deal to completely disarm, it is believed it still holds onto a large part of its arsenal.
"The resistance will not stop," Qassem said, adding that his group will not sit idly by in the face of Israeli aggression and that it still had enough capabilities to fight.
Qassem said his group had suffered exposure during the war which led to Nasrallah and Safieddine’s assassinations, but that these security gaps had now been "addressed," and an "investigation was carried out to learn from [past] lessons and hold negligent persons accountable".
Qassem made a televised speech during Nasrallah and Safieddine’s 23 February funeral, however was not physically present for security reasons.
Hezbollah was dealt severe blows in the war, with much of its senior command structure eliminated and thousands of its fighters killed. It has faced criticism from and supporters, and its opponents say the massive setbacks have proven that the group was incapable of protecting Lebanon from Israel.
Before the fighting escalated into an all-out war in September last year, Israel detonated thousands of pager and walkie-talkie devices in Hezbollah’s possession, in an unprecedented intelligence operation which wounded thousands and killed dozens of people, including two children.
The attack shook Hezbollah, while Israel has celebrated it as one of its biggest ever war achievements.
The attack was followed by a string of major assassinations of senior commanders, including Nasrallah and Safieddine.
Israel's offensive killed more than 6,000 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but many other non-combatants including women and children, emergency workers, and journalists.
On developments in neighbouring Syria, Qassem denied his group was involved in the violent clashes which erupted last week in the coastal Syrian regions of Latakia and Tartus.
He also commented on Israel’s military incursions in southwest Syria which started with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December.
"There is no intervention by Hezbollah in Syria, but I do not rule out the emergence of a Syrian resistance against Israel," he said.
"We wish Syria stability in order to reach an understanding to establish a strong state and put an end to Israeli expansionism".