CAIRO (Reuters) - Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem congratulated Palestinians on Saturday over the Gaza ceasefire deal, saying in a speech that it proved the "persistence of resistance" against Israel. The remarks were the first in public by the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group since Israel and Hamas reached the accord on Wednesday.

The Lebanese pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah on Monday described the ceasefire in the Gaza war as an Israeli defeat. In a first statement after the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas came into effect,

On this great occasion in the history of the Palestinian cause and the struggle against the Zionist enemy, the statement added, Hezbollah is concerned to emphasize the following: 1- This historic victory confirms once again that the option of resistance is the only choice capable of deterring the occupation and frustrating its aggressive plots.