Hezbollah is ready to face the Israeli military if it attempts to invade Lebanon, the militant group’s deputy leader has said. Naim Qassem made the statement during his first public address since an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah’s long-time chief, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday.
Israel has escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in recent weeks, including bombing which has killed at least 1,300 people in Lebanon, according to local health authorities.
Speaking on Monday, Qassem insisted that “we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement.”
Also on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) of a conversation with Israeli troops. “Together with the fighters of the 188th Brigade on the northern border – the forces are ready and prepared to strike Hezbollah with force,” the accompanying comment in Hebrew read.
Gallant added that Israel “will use all the means at our disposal” to ensure that its population can return to their homes in the north of the country.
The areas adjacent to the Lebanese border have increasingly come under missile fire by Hezbollah militants in recent months.
Citing an unnamed senior US official, ABC News reported on Saturday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was planning to enter southern Lebanon soon as part of a “very limited” ground operation.
Addressing Israeli troops last Wednesday, the IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said that recent airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon were aimed at preparing the area “for the possibility of your entry.”
“You will go in, destroy the enemy there, and decisively destroy their infrastructure,” Halevi added.
The Israeli Air Force, meanwhile, has continued to strike targets across Lebanon. On Monday, an apparent Israeli airstrike hit central Beirut for the first time since the 2006 war, according to reporters on the ground.
The attack killed three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the militant group has confirmed.