Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed Friday that he would make Israel pay
"with blood"
the price for civilians killed in Lebanon this week, assuring that his party's precision missiles could reach the southern tip of the country enemy.
“Our women and our children who were killed (...), the enemy will pay the price for their blood
,” declared the leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement in a televised speech.
His comments came after deadly Israeli strikes against southern Lebanon on Wednesday, which left at least 15 dead, ten civilians and five Hezbollah fighters, according to an AFP count based on Civil Defense figures.
The strikes were carried out in retaliation for an unclaimed rocket attack from Lebanon on a military base in northern Israel, which killed a female soldier.
The Islamist group announced Thursday evening that it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, as a first response to Israeli strikes.
Wednesday was the bloodiest day since border fire began between Hezbollah and the Israeli army more than four months ago.
“We believe that what happened was intentional
,” declared Hassan Nasrallah regarding the civilians killed, affirming that
“the enemy aims to put pressure on the resistance”
(Hezbollah, editor’s note) so that it stop the fighting.
Nasrallah wants to target civilians
“The response to the massacre must be to continue the resistance on the front and the escalation”
of the fighting, he said.
He warned that his formation had
“precision missiles”
that can cover Israeli territory
“from Kiryat Shmona (north) to Eilat (south)”
.
Hassan Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah would this time retaliate by also targeting civilians, and not
“positions (...) or spy equipment”
as it has mainly done until now.
Hezbollah opened a front on the Israeli-Lebanese border to support its ally, Palestinian Hamas, at war against Israel in the Gaza Strip since the Islamist movement's unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7.
On Friday, the powerful Iranian-backed movement claimed responsibility for at least five attacks against Israeli military positions on the border and announced the death of three of its fighters, according to a new report.
Three fighters from the Shiite Amal movement were also killed in Israeli strikes during the night from Thursday to Friday, according to the group, an ally of Hezbollah.
The Amal movement, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, also announced that the funerals of the seven civilian members of the same family killed Wednesday in a strike on their building in Nabatiyé (south) would take place on Saturday.
In more than four months, at least 269 people, mostly fighters from Hezbollah and other allied groups but also 40 civilians, have been killed in southern Lebanon, according to an AFP count.
On the Israeli side, ten soldiers and six civilians were killed, according to the army.