JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, Oct 8 (Askume) – Israeli air strikes have killed a slain Hezbollah leader as Israel expands its ground offensive against the Iranian-backed group’s Fourth Army in the south, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
Netanyahu said this in a video released by his office. So said the deputy leader of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is troubled by the killing of senior commanders in Israeli air strikes. They negotiated for a ceasefire.
“We weakened Hezbollah’s capabilities. We killed thousands of terrorists, including (Hassan) Nasrallah himself and the terrorists who replaced Nasrallah and the terrorists who replaced him. He did not write down the names of these terrorists,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Hashim Saffiedine, who is expected to succeed Nasrallah, could be “eliminated.” It is unclear what Netanyahu means by “replacement.”
Subsequently, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel knew Safieddine was at Hezbollah intelligence headquarters when fighter jets bombed Safieddine’s position last week “The investigation is ongoing and we will find out, and then we will inform the public.”
Safieddine has not spoken publicly since Israel launched air strikes on Israel’s year-long border conflict with Hezbollah, the group that is Iran’s most powerful armed force in the Middle East and backs Palestinian militants fighting Israel in Gaza.
“Hezbollah is more vulnerable today than it has been in previous years,” Netanyahu said.
At least 50 militants, including six district commanders and regional officials, were killed in heavy air strikes on Hezbollah underground facilities in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, the Israeli military said on Tuesday.
Regional tensions have escalated in recent weeks since the Palestinian militant group Hamas began attacking southern Israel from Gaza a year ago .Lebanon has already arrived .
On October 1, Iran, which supports Hezbollah and Hamas, fired missiles at Israel. On Tuesday, Iran warned Israel not to follow through on its threats of retaliation .
Its foreign minister said any attack on Iranian infrastructure would be responded to, while a senior Iranian official told Gulf countries it would be “unacceptable” if they allowed their airspace to be targeted against Iran.
Western powers are seeking a diplomatic solution as they fear the conflict could spill over into the wider oil-producing Middle East.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that Galante would not travel to Washington or attend a meeting with US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin scheduled for Wednesday.
Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech from an undisclosed location that he supported the ceasefire efforts.
For the first time, the end of the Gaza war was not made a precondition for stopping the fighting in Lebanon. Qassem said Hezbollah supports the steps taken by Hezbollah ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to stop the fighting.
Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on Qassem’s remarks. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news conference in Washington that Hezbollah “has changed its attitude and wants a ceasefire” because the group “has retreated and has been destroyed on the battlefield.”
Qassem said Hezbollah’s capabilities remain intact despite Israel’s “painful attacks.” “Dozens of cities are within range of the deterrent missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are reliable.”
The Israeli Army’s 4th Division in Lebanon
The Israeli military said it had sent the 146th Division to southern Lebanon, the first reserve division deployed to the border, and was launching a ground operation against Hezbollah from southeast to southwest Lebanon.
A military spokesman declined to say how many troops were in Lebanon at the time. But the army has previously announced that three other military divisions are operating there, meaning there could be thousands of troops on Lebanese soil.
The Israeli military announced on 1 October that ground forces had entered Lebanon, initially consisting of commandos, followed by conventional armor and infantry units.
During the night, Israel again bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah’s headquarters are located, and said it had killed Suheil Hussein Hussein, who was in charge of budget and logistics – the latest in a series of assassinations of senior Hezbollah officials.
The Israeli military on Tuesday issued a new warning to residents to evacuate, particularly specific buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah is headquartered.
On Tuesday, routine sirens sounded in northern Israel, not far from the Lebanese border, and officials said Hezbollah fired about 200 rockets into Israel.
An Israeli military spokesman said more than 3,000 rockets had been fired from Lebanon towards Israel so far in October, but interceptions by air defence systems had prevented casualties and heavy damage.
The northern port city of Haifa was targeted again on Tuesday, with multiple reports of missile fragments damaging buildings. The Israeli military said it struck a missile launcher targeting Haifa.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks and forced more than one million to flee.
Israel’s stated goal is to secure its northern territories from Hezbollah rocket attacks and allow thousands of displaced residents to return.
