Hezbollah insists it will hit back for Israel’s killing of its military chief, dismisses US envoy’s visit

Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem says US envoy Amos Hochstein’s visit to Beirut Wednesday, at which Hochstein urged a Gaza deal and the prevention of wider escalation, was “for show” and that the visiting official “brought nothing.”

“The Americans want to say they are doing something but there is a vacuum,” Qassem tells Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel, claiming that Hochstein offered “no substantial suggestions.”

Qassem reiterates that Hezbollah will hit back at Israel for the killing of its military commander Fuad Shukr in a Beirut airstrike two weeks ago: “The retaliation is a decision, and this decision will be implemented,” he says.

Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported earlier Thursday that the government gave initial approval for the recruiting of 1,500 additional soldiers, ostensibly to deploy in southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 1701, the Security Council resolution passed at the end of the 2006 Second Lebanon War which barred any armed forces except the Lebanese Army from deploying south of the Litani River. In practice, Hezbollah has ignored the resolution.

Israel has repeatedly demanded that Hezbollah withdraw to north of the Litani since the terror group began attacking Israel after Hamas’s October 7 invasion and massacre, and has vowed that Hezbollah will be forced back by either diplomatic or military means.