The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group on Friday vowed not to disarm, saying last week’s decision by the national government to remove the Iran-backed group’s weapons by the end of the year serves Israel’s interests. Naim Kassem said the government’s decision to remove “the defensive weapons of the resistance, its people and Lebanon during an aggression” facilitates the killing of “resistance fighters and their families and evict them from their land and homes.” He said the government should have instead “spread its authority and evicted Israel from Lebanon.” Speaking in a televised speech to mark a Shiite religious event, he added “the government is serving the Israeli project.” Kassem added if the ongoing crisis leads to an internal conflict, the government is to blame. He noted that Hezbollah and its Shiite ally, the Amal movement, did not ask their supporters to protest in the streets to give way for more discussions. The Amal movement was one of the main armed groups in Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war and is now a powerful political party led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. But, he said if a decision is taken to protest in the streets, protesters “will be all over Lebanon and head to the U.S. embassy.” He did not elaborate. Hezbollah’s weapons have been a major dividing point in Lebanon with some groups that are opposed to Hezbollah saying only the state should be allowed to have arms. The Lebanese government voted last week for a U.S.-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year and implement a ceasefire with Israel. The small Mediterranean country has been under international pressure to get Hezbollah to lay down its arms since the 14-month war with Israel that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November. However, the Hezbollah leader said his group will only discuss a national defense strategy over its weapons once Israel withdraws from Lebanon and stops its almost daily airstrikes that have killed scores of Hezbollah terrorists since the war’s end. “The resistance will not hand over its weapons as the aggression continues and occupation remains,” Kassem said, adding that the group will fight a long battle if needed. The Israel-Hezbollah war weakened the Iran-backed group and left much of its military and political leadership dead. The war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced over 1 million and caused destruction that the World Bank said will cost $11 billion in reconstruction. After the war ended, Israeli forces stayed in five locations in Lebanon that provide vantage points or are located across from communities in northern Israel, where about 60,000 Israelis were displaced during the war. (AP)
Israeli leftists launched a general strike across the country early Sunday morning against the government’s plan to continue to fight Hamas in Gaza and not capitulate to the terror group’s demands to continue ruling Gaza and its plan to carry out another October 7-style massacre in Israel. In moves very similar to the pre-October 7 protests against the Netanyahu government and the judicial reform plan, protesters gathered in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and later blocked major roads, including the Ayalon, Highway 1, Highway 6, and Highway 4. A number of relatives of hostages and bereaved families have spoken out against the protest, which was organized by left-wing groups, including the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. Many politicians also slammed the protest as playing into enemy hands. Finance Bezalel Smotrich published a post on X in which he wrote, “The people of Israel are waking up this morning to a harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas, buries the hostages in the tunnels, and tries to get the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies.” Finance Committee chairman Chanoch Milvitzky (Likud) wrote, “Pro-Hamas riots have begun. Jews, Israelis who are burning the country in an attempt to prevent the destruction of Hamas. There have already been such people in our nation throughout history—we overcame them, and so it will be this time as well.” Like the pre-October 7 protests, many groups, institutions, and businesses joined the strike, including the Medical Association, local authorities, universities, the high-tech headquarters, and the Manufacturers Association. Protests are scheduled to take place at junctions throughout the country. During the day, the main protest is taking place at Hostages Square until 8 p.m., when a mass protest is scheduled outside the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The Israeli Navy carried out an attack on a power station in Sanaa early Sunday morning, causing power outages in several areas of the Houthi-controlled capital. Yemeni media reported that there was “an attack in the area of the Haziz power station in the south of the city.” Shortly after reports of the attack, Israeli security officials confirmed that Israel was behind the attack. The Israeli Navy carried out an attack on the Houthi-controlled Hodeida port in Yemen in June. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
ICE officers arrest Guatemalan national Erick Garcia-Monroy shortly after he leaves his home in Norwalk, Connecticut.
According to Politico, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and/or NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte may accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington on Monday for his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, amid European concerns that Trump might not extend Zelensky the same “hospitality” he showed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Explosions were reported early Sunday morning in Yemen near Sanaa’s main power station, with the cause still unknown.
WATCH: ICE conducts a raid at a Anaheim, California car wash.
Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators flooded Midtown Manhattan today, calling to “globalize the intifada” – an open incitement to violence against Jews worldwide.
Today’s GHF Operational Update: Nearly 125 million meals have been distributed to date, with over 1.5 million meals delivered today alone.
Three states are sending National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. under JTF-DC and President Trump’s D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force: West Virginia 300–400, South Carolina 200, and Ohio 150, joining 800 already deployed by the D.C. National Guard at the Department of Defense’s request.
A family of 12—parents and 10 children—has left the Lev Tahor cult in Guatemala and arrived in Israel, Ynet reported Thursday. They received support from social services and government agencies, were first housed in Guatemalan welfare facilities, and, upon arriving in Israel, were transferred to an absorption center.
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