HEZBOLLAH SAYS IT IS READY TO FACE LAND INCURSION
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a first public speech since Israeli airstrikes killed Nasrallah, said that “the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement”.
As he spoke, Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a campaign that has eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
The death toll from an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ain Deleb rose to 45, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Monday.
Rescuers stood on a flattened building. “We are rescuing these people, pulling out the living, the torn apart, and the martyrs,” said one, Mazin al-Khatib.
Nasrallah’s killing, along with the assassinations and systematic attacks on the group’s communications devices, constitute the biggest blow to the Shi’ite movement since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel.
Nasrallah built Hezbollah into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force, with a wide reach across the Middle East.
