Iran: We will not send soldiers to fight Israel

2024-09-30 15:27:44, Kosova & Bota CNA

Iran said it would not send forces to Lebanon or the Gaza Strip to fight Israel amid intensified attacks on Hezbollah — an Iranian-backed militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.

Israel's attacks in Lebanon have killed the leader of the militant group, Hassan Nasrallah, and several other senior members of this group, adding to concerns that the conflict could engulf the entire region.

"There is no need to send additional or volunteer forces from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on September 30, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories "have the ability and strength to defend themselves against aggression".

Kanan's statement came after Naim Qassem, the deputy head of Hezbollah - which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union has blacklisted only its armed wing, but not the political party - said a replacement for Nasrallah will be found "very soon".

In the message, he said the selection would be made according to Hezbollah's regular procedures. He did not provide further details. The Hezbollah political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.

Nasrallah was killed last week in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah's southern command center. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah's office in Tehran on September 30 "to honor" Nasrallah, according to the government's official website.

Israel's airstrikes continued on September 30, with a strike in central Beirut for the first time in a nearly year-long conflict with Hezbollah, which began after another Iranian-backed group, known as Hamas - the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by The US and the EU – launched an operation against Israel that killed around 1,200 people and took another 250 hostages, who were sent to the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military has also expanded its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups, hitting the Yemeni city of Hodeidah, held by Tehran-allied Houthi rebels. Israel also intensified airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds south of Beirut and other areas in Lebanon, raising fears among global leaders of a regional war in the Middle East.

The losses suffered by Hezbollah appear to be the heaviest since the militant group was created in 1982 with the help of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to stave off an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Nasrallah joined Hezbollah to fight in that conflict and in 1992 became its leader, building the group into Lebanon's most powerful military and political force.