Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday welcomed the results of the parliamentary election in Lebanon, in which his terror organization made significant gains.
Initial results from Sunday’s vote showed that Hezbollah had won over half the seats in parliament, while the faction led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri lost over a third of its seats.
"We have achieved our goals," Nasrallah said in a speech, as quoted by Yediot Aharonot. "Everything we expected before the elections has happened. This is a new political victory for the resistance bloc."
The Hezbollah leader also commented on the mounting tensions and exchange of threats between Israel and Iran.
"I am following what the (Israeli) leadership is saying, hearing its threats, and seeing what's happening with Iran and the big thing happening in Gaza. There is no way of knowing how this develops, and we have no time to waste," he said.
Nasrallah asserted that the way of the "army, the resistance and the people is still the only way to defend Lebanon," and praised the people of Lebanon for "holding steadfast" against Israel.
He accused Israel of aiding the rebels seeking to overthrow Syrian President Al-Bashar Assad, of whom Hezbollah is a close ally, by providing them with weapons and aerial assistance.
Lebanese voters headed to the polls on Sunday in the first election since 2009 and the first since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, leading to the migration of over one million Syrian refugees into the tiny nation of just over four million.
Turnout was low, Lebanon’s Interior Minister Noham Machnouk said, with just 49.2% of eligible voters participating in the election, down from 54% in 2009.
According to preliminary results, the Resistance Movement bloc of parties, led by Hezbollah, is expected to win more than 64 seats in the 128-member parliament. Nevertheless, Hariri is expected to hold onto power, with his Future Movement leading the largest Sunni Muslim bloc.
Hezbollah is a major political force in Lebanon and is a member of Hariri’s cabinet, despite being blacklisted as terrorist group in the United States.
In a press conference with Hariri last July, President Donald Trump called Hezbollah a threat to the entire Middle East and accused the group and Iran of fueling a humanitarian disaster in Syria.
