"This is our nation together. We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together - or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us," its leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech.

Lebanon had been hoping this summer would see the return of tens of thousands of expats and tourists to the crisis-hit Mediterranean nation, spending money in resorts and restaurants and attending festivals such as a famed one in an ancient Roman city.

Palestine will be victorious, with all these sacrifices, because they are the owners of the land, the cause, the will, the blood, and the giving," Qassem said. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem warned the Lebanese government on Friday against confronting the Iran-backed terrorist group,