Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public address since Israel assassinated the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah last week, said the movement is ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, Reuters reports.
He said, “We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement.”
Israeli forces have dealt multiple blows to Hezbollah in a two-week wave of attacks on targets in Lebanon that has eliminated several commanders. The possibility that Israel’s next move might be to send ground troops and tanks over the border is on many minds.Israel’s intensified attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi forces in Yemen have prompted fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel’s main ally.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not leave any of Israel’s “criminal acts” go unanswered. He was referring to the killing of Nasrallah and an Iranian Guard deputy commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes on Friday.
According to the Lebanon’s Health Ministry, more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without specifying how many were civilians. One million people-a fifth of the population have fled their homes.
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