Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu It was confirmed on Tuesday that Hezbollah intended to replace its former leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed late last month, with him also being “removed.”
“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been in many years,” Netanyahu said in a message addressed directly to “the Lebanese people.”
“We have decimated Hezbollah’s capabilities, we have killed thousands of terrorists, including (former Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacements and their replacements.”
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Netanyahu said Iran had “conquered” Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah could use Tehran’s influence in the region by turning it into a “warehouse of ammunition and weapons” as a proxy “Iranian military base” on the border with Israel. Serves interests.
He added, “Now you, the Lebanese people, stand at an important crossroads. This is your choice.” “Now you can take your country back. You can return it to the path of peace and prosperity.”
“If you don’t do this, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel in densely populated areas at your expense,” the prime minister said. “Liberate your country from Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu did not explicitly say what it would take to stop Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, but earlier on Tuesday the group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, suggested he would seek a ceasefire without including Gaza in the talks. Can be ready for.
Smoke and flames rise over the southern suburbs of Beirut following Israeli air strikes, as seen from Sin el Fil, Lebanon, October 6, 2024, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. (Reuters/Amr Abdullah Dalsh)
Netanyahu’s announcement about the death of Hashem Saffieddin, who sat as the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and was likely to be the group’s next leader, came as Israeli forces expanded their infiltration on the west side of the border in Lebanon.
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Although not as well-known as Saffieddin Nasrallah, who served as Hezbollah’s leader for more than 30 years, his close ties to Iran and his outspoken behavior after Hamas Attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023 established him as Jerusalem’s top target.
It is unclear how and where Saffieddin was reportedly killed, although his death was announced after an update provided by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that said “hundreds of terrorists” had been killed. “Finished”. The 98th Brigade entered Lebanon for the first time last week,
The brigade, made up of paratroopers, commandos as well as top soldiers from the 7th Brigade and the Yahalom Unit, targeted Hezbollah strongholds, weapons depots and tunnel routes used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces near the border with Israel. And is destroying them.
A photographer documents damage to a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The IDF has said it will implement A “limited, localized, targeted” operation in Lebanon, but as Israeli forces continue to attack Hezbollah strongholds north of the border, including the capital Beirut, concerns are growing that Lebanon could suffer a devastation similar to that in Gaza. Can see. A U.N. official described the bombing tactics as a “spiral of destruction,” multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
Internally displaced people from southern Lebanon have been flocking to Beirut following an increase in Israeli attacks three weeks ago and subsequent incursions earlier this month.
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Beirut Mayor Abdullah Darwich urged a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel and told the BBC on Tuesday that “there is no safe place in Beirut”, warning that the capital city had reached “the limit of its tolerance”.
“You don’t know who’s living in this building or that building, so you don’t know if there’s a target there,” he said. “You can no longer say that Beirut is safe. No one knows where the next Israeli target is.”
Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon since conflict between Hezbollah and Israel escalated last month. More than 400,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria, and about 1,400 have died, based on numbers provided by the Lebanese Health Ministry and the number of fighters killed by Israel. About 70,000 Israelis have been driven out of northern communities in the country since the beginning of the conflict.
