Hezbollah leader refuses to disarm until Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated Sunday the militant group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes. He spoke in a video address, as thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura.

Ashoura commemorates the 680 A.D. Battle of Karbala, in which the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shiites, the commemoration has come to symbolize resistance against tyranny and injustice.

This year’s commemoration comes in the wake of a bruising war between Israel and Hezbollah, which nominally ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late November. Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, including longtime Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and destroyed much of its arsenal.

Read more: AP