Hezbollah accepts ceasefire but vows to fight on

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said today the militant organisation would abide by the UN ceasefire resolution but would continue fighting as long as Israeli troops remained in southern Lebanon.

“We will not be an obstacle to any (government) decision that it finds appropriate, but our ministers will express reservations about articles that we consider unjust and unfair.”

His address was televised as the Lebanese Cabinet was in session to vote on whether to accept the resolution. Hezbollah has two ministers in the government.

But he called continued resistance to the Israel offensive “our natural right” and predicted more hard fighting to come.

“We must not make a mistake, not in the resistance, the government or the people, and believe that the war has ended.

“The war has not ended. There have been continued strikes and continued casualties,” he said in a taped television address.

“Today nothing has changed and it appears tomorrow nothing will change,” he said, in reference to Israel’s push by thousands more troops and armour into the country today, within hours of the UN adopting the ceasefire resolution by a unanimous vote.