Hezbollah chief says campaign to eliminate the group has failed

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said a project aimed at eliminating the group militarily, politically, culturally and socially has failed, according to remarks carried on Monday. He linked the effort to end Hezbollah and its allies to what he described as the "Greater Israel" project. Qassem said Israel would need a long time to advance that goal and argued that resistance on the ground has already broken the Israeli project. He added that Israel would not reach its objectives, and that the outcome would remain unchanged even if more time passed. The remarks framed the regional conflict in terms consistent with Hezbollah's stated effort to defend its legitimacy. No further details were immediately available.