The chief of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed the group will prevail against extremists fighting in neighbouring Syria.
"We will win this battle, God willing," he insisted, after describing the group's role in the conflict in Syria as a fight against "takfiris" - extremist Sunni Muslims.
Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, has dispatched fighters to the conflict to bolster government troops, finally admitting their presence in April 2013.
Nasrallah has regularly defended the decision by saying Hezbollah is countering jihadist fighters, although extremists make up only a portion of those fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.
He devoted much of the lengthy address to defending the group's involvement in Syria, which has drawn accusations from some in Lebanon that the group is entangling the country in the war next door.
"It's a question of time," he said of Hezbollah's victory in the fight.
"Planning and preparations... exist, but it's a question of time," he added during the televised address to commemorate the assassination of three senior Hezbollah members.
He described the fight in Syria, which a Britain-based monitoring group estimates has killed several hundred Hezbollah members, as a "decisive, historic battle".
Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian conflict has been controversial in Lebanon, where many Shiites back the Syrian regime and many Sunnis support the Sunni-dominated uprising.
