Lebanon Health Ministry Says Separate Israeli Strikes on South Kill Several on Sunday

New Israeli strikes on Lebanon - REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
New Israeli strikes on Lebanon - REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
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Lebanon Health Ministry Says Separate Israeli Strikes on South Kill Several on Sunday

New Israeli strikes on Lebanon - REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
New Israeli strikes on Lebanon - REUTERS/Karamallah Daher

Lebanon's health ministry said three people were killed in separate Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday, as Israel said it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

In separate statements, the health ministry said one person was killed in "Israel enemy" strikes in three different south Lebanon villages.

Hezbollah on Sunday announced two fighters had been killed, without specifying where they died.

The Iran-backed group said it launched "explosive laden drones" towards two troop positions in northern Israel "in response to the enemy attacks" on south Lebanon.

Early Sunday, it said it fired dozens of rockets at military production facilities and an air base near the north Israel city of Haifa.

The Israel military said a barrage of rockets, cruise missiles and drones were launched overnight towards Israeli soil, mostly from Lebanon to the north.

Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in support of Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack triggered the Gaza war.

Tensions have spiked dramatically in recent days, with several dozen killed and thousands wounded in Lebanon when Hezbollah pagers and two-way radios exploded on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hezbollah has blamed Israel, which has not commented.

On Friday, an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs that targeted Hezbollah military commanders killed 45 people, the health ministry said.



Naim Qassem: Hezbollah’s Capabilities Intact, More Israelis Will be Displaced

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech, from an unknown location, October 8, 2024 in this still image from video. ReutersTV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS
Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech, from an unknown location, October 8, 2024 in this still image from video. ReutersTV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS
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Naim Qassem: Hezbollah’s Capabilities Intact, More Israelis Will be Displaced

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech, from an unknown location, October 8, 2024 in this still image from video. ReutersTV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS
Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech, from an unknown location, October 8, 2024 in this still image from video. ReutersTV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS

Hezbollah’s acting leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Tuesday more Israelis will be displaced as the group expands its rocket fire deeper into Israel.

In a defiant televised statement on Tuesday, Qassem said Hezbollah's capabilities are still intact despite weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes and that it has replaced slain commanders.

Qassem said that the Iran-backed group's fighters were pushing back Israeli ground incursions, despite the "painful blows" inflicted by Israel in recent weeks.

“We are firing hundreds of rockets and dozens of drones. A large number of settlements and cities are under the fire of the resistance,” Qassem said. “Our capabilities are fine and our fighters are deployed along the frontlines."

He said Hezbollah's top leadership was directing the war and that the commanders slain by Israel have been replaced, saying “we have no vacant posts.”

He said that Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in an underground base in Beirut’s southern suburbs last month, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.”

Qassem added that the group supported the efforts of Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to secure a ceasefire, without providing further details on any conditions demanded by Hezbollah.

"We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire," Qassem said in the 30-minute televised address.
"In any case, after the issue of a ceasefire takes shape, and once diplomacy can achieve it, all of the other details can be discussed and decisions can be taken," he said. "If the enemy (Israel) continues its war, then the battlefield will decide."

Qassem also said the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was a war about who cries first, and that Hezbollah would not cry first.