Lebanese Mountain Village Mourns Dead in Israeli Airstrike

 Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP)
Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP)
TT

Lebanese Mountain Village Mourns Dead in Israeli Airstrike

 Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP)
Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP)

A village in the mountains southeast of Beirut was in shock after an Israeli airstrike demolished a residential building and partly destroyed another, killing seven people, including three children.

Hadi Zahwe, a resident of the area, told reporters that the strike on Sunday was "terrifying."

"There were children killed, there were children’s body parts," he said. "This enemy is targeting civilian women and children."

Israel has carried out a widening aerial bombardment of many parts of southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs over the past two weeks, targeting what it said were Hezbollah fighters and weapons.

It was not clear what the intended target was in Sunday’s strike, which was the first one to hit the area.

Mahmoud Nasr Eldin, the town’s deputy mayor, said the village contains "no security or military centers."

"There’s nothing in Qmatiyeh that they’re looking for — it’s a safe area," he said. "We welcomed around 15,000 internally displaced people. They are our people, they ran away from their villages and came to get protection here."



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
TT

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.