Hezbollah says it has not received an official ceasefire proposal, has weapons to wage a long war

Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif says the terror group has not received any official ceasefire proposal and has enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war with Israel.

He says Israeli forces had failed to hold territory six weeks into their ground invasion, pointing to what he claimed was a failed Israeli attempt last week to enter the southern town of Khiam.

“As long as you are not able to control areas in the field you will not achieve your political goals,” Afif said.

Despite Hezbollah’s claims, the IDF has captured numerous villages close to the border during its ground offensive in southern Lebanon. The Times of Israel has been able to visit several of these villages with an IDF escort.

Israel says it has no plans to occupy the Lebanese villages for lengthy periods or push much deeper into Lebanon.

The stated goal of the IDF’s ground offensive in Lebanon is to remove the threat of a Hezbollah invasion by demolishing the terror group’s infrastructure in the border villages.

Once the IDF has completed clearing a village of Hezbollah assets, troops are withdrawn.

Afif also denies claims by Israeli officials that Hezbollah has lost most of its missile capabilities, pointing to the fact that it is still launching dozens of projectiles a day and targeting areas in central Israel.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, and drawing retaliatory strikes, the day after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. All-out war with Hezbollah erupted in September, when Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.

Israel aims to push Hezbollah away from the border so that tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in northern Israel can safely return.