Hezbollah Prepared For Israeli Ground Invasion, Says Group's Deputy In First Speech After Nasrallah's Killing

In his first address following the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese group’s Deputy Leader Naim Qassem on Monday promised to continue the fight against Israel, asserting that the Iran-backed outfit is prepared for a protracted conflict.

During his speech, Qassem said the group is addressing its leadership issue as it prepares for a possible ground invasion of Israel. His address comes in the wake of deadly Israeli airstrikes that targeted dozens of Hezbollah figures in their underground headquarters in Beirut, killing Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed militant group for 32 years.

This marked a pivotal moment in the ongoing tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed group. Qassem’s address comes a day after the Israeli military said the strike that killed Nasrallah this week also “eliminated” more than 20 other members of the Lebanese armed group.

‘Relying on new commanders’

Qassem said that despite the killing of Hezbollah’s top military commanders over the past months, Hezbollah now is relying on new commanders. “Israel was not able to affect our capabilities,” Qassem said. “There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

Earlier on Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death, and on Sunday said Ali Karake, the group’s top commander in south Lebanon, was also killed in the Friday attack. Other names listed by the Israeli military include Abed al-Amir Muhammad Sablini and Ali Naaf Ayoub.

Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry, and the government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people.

Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel.