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 AD 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.
