Middle East, Hezbollah scares Italy: “It is part of the evil coalition”

For Hezbollah, Italy is part of what it defines as an “evil coalition” together with the United States, Israel, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, among others. This was said in a speech in Beirut by the number two of the Lebanese group, Naim Qassem, who placed Italy and other countries in opposition to what he said was rather a “coalition of good”, which includes all the actors close to Hamas who have during weeks raised fears of an extension of the conflict in Gaza to a regional level. “The role of the resistance in Lebanon and Iraq, alongside Yemen and Iran, as well as the resistance in Gaza and the West Bank, contributes to counteracting the project” of the US and Israel in the Middle East, declared Qassem, adding that ” It is imperative to confront the “coalition of evil”, represented by America, Israel, France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and others, with the “coalition of good”, represented by the resistance in Palestine, Lebanon, the region and countries honorable countries like Iran, Yemen, Iraq and others.”

The situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel has been tense for weeks, with exchanges between Hezbollah and the Jewish state almost daily, the latest of which today. The Unifil mission also reported the injury of a peacekeeper that occurred on Wednesday night in the attack on a patrol of peacekeepers in the village of Tayabeh, in southern Lebanon. On Christmas Day, the regional situation was worsened by the murder of Pasdaran councilor, Seyed Razi Mousavi, in an alleged Israeli attack on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria. The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami, promised revenge against Israel, on the day thousands of people – including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – attended Mousavi’s funeral in Tehran.

Meanwhile, new Israeli bombings hit the Gaza Strip overnight between Wednesday and Thursday: dozens of Palestinians were killed in attacks that again hit the areas of Beit Lahiya, Khan Younis and Maghazi. However, the Israeli army acknowledged what it called “extensive collateral damage” in the attacks that hit the Meghazi refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, on Christmas Eve, causing a massacre. An IDF official, speaking on Israel’s Kan TV, said the type of weapons used were not compatible with the type of attack and this caused “enormous collateral damage, something that could have been avoided if the weapons had been adapted to the type of operation planned”. According to UN data, at least 86 people died, while Doctors Without Borders reported 131 deaths in attacks in the Meghazi and Bureij camps. The IDF “regrets the harm suffered by those not involved and is working to learn lessons from the incident,” the army said.

Source: IL Tempo

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