From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 1, 2026
Hezbollah vows to ‘confront aggression’ of US, Israel amid war in Iran
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Hezbollah vows to confront the United States and Israel over their strikes on the terror group’s backer, Iran.
“We will undertake our duty of confronting the aggression,” Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says in a statement, adding that his movement would not leave “the field of honor and resistance.”
The terror group has so far not taken action since the US and Israel began striking Iran yesterday. It also did not intervene during the June war between Israel and Iran.
Hezbollah organizes a gathering of thousands of people in its stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs in a show of support for Iran, amid fears from Lebanese authorities that it might intervene in the conflict.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, following an emergency meeting of the country’s Higher Defense Council, says that “the decision of war and peace rests solely with the Lebanese state.”
Hezbollah also calls on mosques to recite the Koran and organize mourning ceremonies to mark the death of Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both in the Beirut suburb and other areas of Lebanon where the group wields influence.
Khamenei was killed yesterday as the United States and Israel jointly launched a barrage of ongoing strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Qassem, who succeeded Hassan Nasrallah as the group’s chief following the latter’s death in an Israeli strike in September 2024, says the assassination of Khamenei and other Iranian officials was “the height of crime.”
In a statement later in the day, Hezbollah pledges to “continue its jihad and resistance, and to stand firmly and steadfastly alongside the Islamic Republic… to defeat the arrogant and tyrannical aggressors until the final and complete victory is achieved.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports Iranian missiles heading for Israel over southern Lebanon, and says explosions were heard as the Israeli military tried to intercept them.
Without giving a reason, the US embassy in Beirut announces that it will be closed tomorrow.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam yesterday rejected the prospect of being dragged into war following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The Times of Israel Community.