By Namita Singh

 

BEIRUT, 01 Oct. - (ANA) - Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a first public speech on Monday since Hassan Nasrallah’s death, said that “the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement” with Israel.

 

He said Hezbollah had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150km into Israeli territory.

 

“We know that the battle may be long. We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006,” he said, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.

 

Late on Monday, Lebanese troops pulled back about 5km from positions along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, a Lebanese security source told Reuters. A Lebanese army spokesperson did not confirm or deny the movement.

 

Lebanon’s army has historically stayed on the sidelines of major conflicts with Israel, and in the last year of hostilities has not fired on the Israeli military.

 

 

 

 

At least 95 people have been killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut in the last 24 hours, Lebanon’s health ministry said early on Tuesday.

 

Israel’s ground invasion into Lebanon follows its deadly detonation of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers, two weeks of airstrikes, and its killing on Friday of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, which dealt the group one of the heaviest blows in decades.

 

The intensive air strikes have eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.

 

Overnight, strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, a security source said. A Reuters reporter witnessed a flash of light and a series of loud blasts about an hour after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas near buildings it said contained Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Lebanese capital.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/01 October 2024 - - -