Sheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hizbollah, gives a rare interview to the FT, sitting beneath tapestries showing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late Supreme Leader

Hizbollah has been providing the Palestinians in Gaza with “every type of support” possible for some time, the deputy leader of the powerful Lebanese Shia movement has said, in a remarkable admission of a widening regional role.