BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s deputy chief has pledged that the armed group is ready to meet an Israeli ground operation, despite the deaths of its top leader.
Israel has not hit the group’s military skills and capabilities, said Hezbollah’s deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Monday as he delivered a message of defiance in a public address. Naim Qassem sought to insist that the Iran-baked armed group will continue to fight despite the setbacks suffered under the offensive of Lebanon in recent days.
Qassem stated that the group’s operations have continued at the same pace and more, since the killing of Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. He said that the group will install a new leadership soon through standard mechanisms. The choice of new leadership is very clear, he continued, without offering further information.
Earlier, on Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli overnight strike on Beirut’s suburbs. “Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for around 30 years,” According to Hezbollah’s statement.
The Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike on Beirut.
“Hassan Nasrallah is dead,” Israel’s army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani claimed on social media. Military spokesman Captain David Avraham also confirmed that Hassan Nasrallah had been “killed” after strikes Friday on Beirut. Hassan Nasrallah was unreachable after Israel’s attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday evening, Reuters cited a source close to Hezbollah.
