Hezbollah Reassures Lebanese: Oil to be Extracted, ‘israel’ Doesn’t Dare to Prevent Us

In a local ceremony in Beirut, the senior Hezbollah official hailed as “a great achievement” the exploratory drilling for offshore oil and gas which started on Thursday.

“This is a significant accomplishment,” Sheikh Qassem said, as quoted by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.

He pointed to attempts by some Lebanese sides to tarnish such achievement, but stressed that the drilling process will go ahead despite challenges.

The Hezbollah official then wondered: “Who dares to prevent the drilling either Israel or others?”

“Rest assured, as long as the resistance is steadily linked to the trilogy of ‘Army-People-Resistance’, or finger is on the trigger and we are fully prepared,” he said, stressing that Lebanon’s oil and gas will be extracted and invested.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Qassem affirmed that Hezbollah exerts efforts to reach settlement regarding the crisis of presidential vacuum in the country.

“We work diligently, with the highest priority, to save the country and elect a new president in order to organize the institutions, and to lead a better life.”

However, he slammed the other parties by saying: “Some are ready to ignite a strife, obstruct, lie, mislead in a bid to rule, although they have no capabilities to do so, based on the existing rules in the country.”

Earlier on Thursday, exploration drilling started on offshore Block 9 located in the south of Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Middle Eastern Arab country is also about to embark on the seismic survey in Block 8.

Lebanon has pinned its hopes on potential hydrocarbon reserves as a source of foreign currency for the country which has been grappling with unparalleled financial turmoil after its currency’s value plummeted by more than 98 per cent against dollar.