Hezbollah says it is ready for any Israeli land invasion in Lebanon

Hezbollah fighters are primed to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, the group's deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Monday in his first public speech since Israeli airstrikes killed its veteran chief Hassan Nasrallah last week, News.Az reports citing BBC.

Israel will not achieve its goals, he said.

"We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement," he said in an address from an undisclosed location.

He was speaking as Israeli airstrikes on targets in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a two-week long wave of attacks that has eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 Lebanese and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.

Nasrallah's killing, along with the series of blows against the organization's communications devices and assassination of other senior commanders, constitute the biggest blow to the organization since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel.

He had built it up into Lebanon's most powerful military and political force, with wide sway across the Middle East.

Now Hezbollah faces the challenge of replacing a charismatic, towering leader who was a hero to millions of supporters because he stood up to Israel even though the West branded him a terrorist mastermind.

"We will choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity...and we will fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis," Qassem said.

Qassem said Hezbollah's fighters had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150 km (93 miles) into Israeli territory and were ready to face any possible Israeli ground incursion.

"What we are doing is the bare minimum...We know that the battle may be long," he said. "We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006 in the face of the Israeli enemy," he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.

Israel, which has also assassinated leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza war, says it will do whatever it takes to return its citizens to evacuated communities on its northern border safely.
It has not ruled out a ground invasion and its troops have been training for one.

"The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops deployed to the country's northern border.

News.Az