News - Middle East: A senior official with the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has underscored the need for unity among Muslim countries to confront Israel’s hostile acts, saying the Tel Aviv regime is no longer prepared for a new war against the Gaza Strip.

“Support for the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian cause is not confined solely to the Palestinian nation, and all Muslims are duty-bound to do so,” Sheikh Hassan al-Baghdadi, a member of Hezbollah’s central council, said during a ceremony held in the southern Lebanese village of Ansar in commemoration of Lebanon’s prominent Shia leader Imam Musa al-Sadr, who went missing with two companions more than 40 years ago in Libya.

Baghdadi strongly condemned Israel’s escalatory measures in occupied al-Quds, and repeated raids by the regime’s forces on the sacred site, where they fired stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian worshipers observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

“The recent naked aggression of the coward Zionists against defenseless Palestinian worshipers, with such an extent of cruelty, provoked the feelings of Muslims and followers of other religions,” Baghdadi said.

The senior Hezbollah official also praised Palestinian resistance groups in the besieged Gaza Strip for firing barrages of rockets into the southern part of the Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation for violent raids on al-Aqsa Mosque.

“The Israeli regime is not prepared to launch a new war against the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Israeli forces have wounded and rounded up hundreds of Palestinians during attacks that have seen a rise since the beginning of Ramadan. Illegal Israeli settlers have been freely violating the compound under the Israeli military and police force’s protection.

Since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the Israeli regime has imposed strict restrictions on the entry and exit of Palestinians to and from the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli settlers have also pressed ahead with their frequent incursions and provocative rituals at the holy site.

On Thursday, at least 30 rockets were reportedly launched from southern Lebanon into the Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation against the Israeli aggression against al-Aqsa. Resistance fighters based in Gaza also fired several rockets toward the occupied territories.

‘Lebanon should focus on homegrown initiatives’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Baghdadi pointed to Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis, saying that the existing socioeconomic problems require disassociation from the officials who are only concerned about themselves and do not care about the stability of the country or the suffering of the public.

“Today, the solution to Lebanon’s current crises is to focus on homegrown initiatives, and conduct negotiations that would take into account national interests and get the country out of the present impasse,” the Hezbollah official said.

Lebanon’s presidency has seen stalemate several times since the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has also had only a caretaker government since May 2022.

The Arab country has been mired in an economic crisis that the World Bank has described as one of the worst in recent history, which comes amid crippling sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of its value on the black market since 2019.

According to the United Nations, the ongoing financial crisis in Lebanon has caused poverty rates to reach more than 80 percent of the population, and food prices have risen by an astonishing 2,000 percent.

Source: Press TV