[News] Hezbollah warns ‘no options left but resistance’ after deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Hezbollah warns ‘no options left but resistance’ after deadly Israeli
strikes on Lebanon

A Hezbollah official said that Israel ‘only understands the language of
force,’ while calling on the Lebanese government to freeze participation in
the US-backed ‘ceasefire’ committee

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

FEB 22, 2026 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/hezbollah-warns-no-options-left-but-resistance-after-deadly-israeli-strikes-on-lebanon
(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Hezbollah said
<https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2026/02/21/hezbollah-vows-resistance-after-deadly-israeli-strike->on
21 February that the Lebanese people “no longer have any option” other than
resistance, after a series of violent and deadly Israeli attacks against
the country’s east and south.

Deputy chief of Hezbollah’s Political Council Mahmoud Qamati said “What
happened yesterday in the Bekaa is a new massacre and a new aggression.”

“What option do we have left to defend ourselves and our country? What
other option do we have besides resistance? We no longer have any option,”
he added.

Another official, Hezbollah MP Rami Abu Hamdan, said mere government
condemnation were no longer acceptable.

He stressed that the “Zionist brutality” is “nothing new,” but argued that
“condemnations and statements of denunciation are no longer sufficient,”
adding that Lebanese blood is “not cheap.”

Abu Hamdan called for a radical change in how the state defends the
country, rejecting the normalization of daily attacks on Lebanon.

He added that the government should not act as a mere political
commentator, describing Israeli strikes as routine events preceding
meetings of the ceasefire “mechanism” committee. At a minimum, he said,
Lebanon should freeze its participation in the committee until Israel halts
its violations, calling this a test of the committee and its sponsors.

He said his message was directed at Lebanese officials, and not Israel,
which “only understands the language of force.”

Israeli warplanes carried out violent airstrikes
<https://thecradle.co/articles/deadly-israeli-strikes-in-lebanon-leave-dozens-of-civilian-casualties>
on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region on Friday night, killing at least ten,
including Hezbollah members and civilians.

The Lebanese resistance confirmed the deaths of eight of its members,
including a senior official. It said they “sacrificed themselves for
Lebanon and its people.”

At least 24 others were wounded, including children. A Syrian man and an
Ethiopian woman were among the dead.

Tel Aviv claimed it attacked members of Hezbollah’s missile unit.

The Israeli army said it “eliminated a large number of terrorists belonging
to the missile array of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, in three
different headquarters of the organization.”

The strikes hit residential areas, causing widespread destruction. Just
hours earlier, at least two people were killed in an Israeli strike on the
Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon's Sidon (Saida).

The next meeting of the US-led ‘ceasefire monitoring mechanism’ is
scheduled for Wednesday, 25 February.

The committee is made up of Lebanon, the US, France, UNIFIL, and Israel.
While Lebanese-Israeli dealings via the mechanism were previously indirect,
the latest committee meetings saw Lebanese and Israeli officials meet
directly
<https://thecradle.co/articles/lebanese-israeli-officials-hold-second-direct-meeting>
– under heavy US pressure and in violation of the country’s laws.

Beirut is being pressured by Washington, at the behest of Israel, to fully
disarm Hezbollah.

The group has largely been disarmed south of the Litani River, after the
government began implementing Resolution 1701 at the start of 2025, as part
of the November 2024 ceasefire that Israel has refused to abide by.

Beirut announced in early 2026 that phase one of disarming the group had
been completed, south of the river. Israel described the army's efforts as
“far from sufficient.”

Phase two requires the group to surrender its arms north of the Litani
River, and then eventually across the entirety of Lebanon.

Hezbollah has rejected this. The movement says it will eventually be
willing to discuss a national defensive strategy that could incorporate its
weapons into the state and be available for use to protect the country.

Yet it refuses to enter into any such talks until Israel ends its daily
attacks and withdraws the troops that occupied several areas along the
border during the ceasefire. Over 300 people have been killed by Israeli
attacks in Lebanon since the 2024 truce, and at least two dozen Lebanese
citizens are held in Israeli prisons.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to resume full-scale war against the
entirety of Lebanon unless Hezbollah
<https://thecradle.co/articles/no-compromise-hezbollah-slams-beiruts-decision-on-phase-two-of-disarmament>
is disarmed.

According to a recent Saudi media report
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/36085>, Israel is planning “massive and
unprecedented” attacks on resistance groups backed by Iran, in the event
that these groups aid the Islamic Republic during a potential US war.

This includes Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansarallah, and Iraqi resistance factions.
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