The Islamic terror group Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem on Friday said the group would not be swayed by calls for it to stay on the sidelines of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. It added that it was, in fact, “fully ready” to contribute to the ‘fighting’.

“The behind-the-scenes calls with us by great powers, Arab countries, envoys of the United Nations, directly and indirectly telling us not to interfere will have no effect,” Qassem said.

“Hezbollah knows its duties perfectly well. We are prepared and ready, fully ready,” he added.

“The question being asked, which everyone is waiting for, is: what will Hezbollah do and what will its contribution be?” Qassem said. “We will contribute to the confrontation within our plan… when the time comes for any action, we will carry it out.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met on Friday morning with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Amirabdollahian said on Thursday that Iran’s allies in the region would respond to Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians and that Israel would then have to bear the consequences