Nasrallah threatens to fire rockets at Israeli areas not yet targeted by Hezbollah
In televised address, terror group leader cites reported spike in civilian deaths in southern Lebanon, denies rumors of ‘finalized agreement’ to halt ongoing deadly border violence
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened Wednesday to target Israeli towns that have not yet been subjected to the terror group’s rocket and drone attacks if Israel continues to “target civilians,” noting a spike in the number of noncombatants killed in Lebanon in recent days.
Lebanese official media reported on Tuesday that five people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, including three Syrian children. In response, the Shiite terror group fired some 100 rockets that targeted several areas of northern Israel in four separate waves on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
“Continuing to target civilians will push the Resistance to launch missiles at settlements that were not previously targeted,” Nasrallah said, in comments made during a televised address to mark the Shiite holy day Ashora. He also warned Israel to refrain from a ground incursion into its northern neighbor.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the ongoing war there.
Other Iran-aligned groups in the region, including Shiite armed factions in Syria and Iraq and Yemen’s Houthis, have also been firing on Israel since shortly after Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were kidnapped to Gaza.
Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 atrocities and has said that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push the terror group northward.
Nasrallah, in his Wednesday comments, said, “If your tanks come to southern Lebanon, you will not suffer a shortage of tanks, because you will have no tanks left.”
The comment was an apparent reference to a response given by the Israel Defense Forces to a High Court petition earlier this week, in which the army stated that it does not have enough tanks to launch a pilot training program for female troops since many were damaged in the war, contradicting previous statements by senior military officers.
Nasrallah vowed to continue attacks against Israel as long as the war in Gaza persists and denied rumors that a diplomatic settlement had been reached to halt the conflict on the Lebanese border.
“All that is being circulated about a finalized agreement regarding the situation on the Lebanese front is incorrect,” he said.
The Hezbollah leader further pledged to rebuild border towns and make them “more beautiful than they were,” and praised the residents of southern Lebanon for providing a “steadfast environment” to fighters of the “resistance.”
The skirmishes have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 17 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 367 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 66 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Agencies contributed to this report.