Hezbollah’s deputy leader vows to fight on after Nasrallah death

Hezbollah’s deputy leader has vowed to continue fighting Israel, and said the militant group is prepared for a long war despite much of its top command being wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

In his first televised speech since Nasrallah was killed, Naim Kassem said that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah fighters are ready to fight and defend Lebanon.

As Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Kassem now is the acting leader of Hezbollah until a replacement for Nasrallah is chosen.

Kassem added that despite the killing of Hezbollah’s top military commanders over the past few months, Hezbollah is now relying on new commanders.

“Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities,” Kassem said. “There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

The speech came after an air strike levelled an apartment building and killed three Palestinian militants in central Beirut, as Israel sent a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds after wiping out much of the Hezbollah militant group’s top command, including Nasrallah.

As recently as two weeks ago, such a strike, outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub, would have been seen as an escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel.

But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict, and Hezbollah’s ability to respond, are no longer clear.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for Monday’s strike, but is widely assumed to have carried it out.

Strikes by Israel 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.

More than 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. (Breakingnews.ie)

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