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Tag: Hezbollah

  • Hezbollah confirms death of spokesman in Beirut attack

    Hezbollah confirms death of spokesman in Beirut attack

    Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its Spokesman, Mohammed Afif, in an Israeli attack in Beirut.

    He was a “pillar” of Hezbollah’s media and political work, the pro-Iranian group said on Telegram.

    Afif was one of the few remaining publicly known faces of Hezbollah after the killing of the group’s leadership and had recently led press conferences.

    He was a confidante of the militia’s former Secretary General,  Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike at the end of September.

    Afif died in an Israeli attack in the densely populated Ras Al Naba district near the centre of Beirut.

    At the time of the attack, he is said to have been in an office of the Baath Party, which is active in several Arab countries, including as the party of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.

    According to Lebanese authorities, at least three other people were killed in the attack and 14 people injured.

  • Israel says 2 Hezbollah commanders, 1 jihadist killed

    Israel says 2 Hezbollah commanders, 1 jihadist killed

    The Israeli air force says it has eliminated two commanders of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in targetted killings in Lebanon as well as a jihadist in the Gaza Strip.

    One attack took place in Baraachit in southern Lebanon, according to a statement from the army issued on Monday.

    The dead man was said to have been responsible for planning and executing attacks with rockets and anti-tank missiles on Israeli troops.

    The other man was killed near the village of Sultaniya, the armed forces said.

    He had been involved in a significant number of attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers, as well as arms smuggling, the statement said.

    In the Gaza Strip meanwhile, the Israeli air force killed a member of the military intelligence department of the Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad, according to the military.

    The man had participated in the October 7, 2003 massacre in the Israeli border area and was involved in attacks on the Israeli community of Kfar Aza, according to the IDF.

    “An additional terrorist was eliminated alongside him,” it said.

    The claims could not be independently verified.

    The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented terrorist attack on southern Israel launched by the Palestinian militant Hamas organisation and others on October 7, 2023.

    More than 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip after the October attack.

    No fewer than 43,300 people have been killed and over 102,000 injured so far in the ensuing Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.

    The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. However, a third of them are children and youths under 18, according to the ministry.

  • Hezbollah announces Naim Qassem to replace slain leader

    Hezbollah announces Naim Qassem to replace slain leader

    Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement announced Tuesday it has chosen deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as leader after his death in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.

    Hezbollah’s (governing) Shura Council agreed to elect… Sheikh Naim Qassem as secretary general of Hezbollah,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement, more than a month after Nasrallah’s killing.

    Hezbollah pledged to keep “the flame of resistance burning” until victory is achieved against Israel after all-out war erupted on September 23.

    Israel quickly hit back, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warning in a post on X that Qassem’s appointment was “not for long”.

    In a separate social media post in Hebrew, Gallant wrote that the “countdown has begun”.

    Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, was initially tipped to succeed Nasrallah.

    But he too was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs shortly after Nasrallah’s death.

    Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, welcomed Qassem’s election.

    “We consider this election evidence of the party’s recovery from the targeting” of its leaders, Hamas said in a statement, pledging “support for the new leadership”.

    Qassem, 71, was one of Hezbollah’s founders in 1982 and had been the party’s deputy secretary general since 1991, the year before Nasrallah took the helm.

    He was born in Beirut in 1953 to a family from the village of Kfar Fila on the border with Israel.

    He was the most senior Hezbollah official to continue making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding after the group’s 2006 war with Israel.

    Since Nasrallah’s death in a huge Israeli air strike on September 27, Qassem has made three televised addresses, speaking in more formal Arabic than the colloquial Lebanese favoured by Nasrallah.

    With less charisma and fewer oratorical skills than Nasrallah, Qassem said the group would soon name a new leader.

    He claimed Hezbollah’s military capabilities were intact, and backed efforts by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri to broker a ceasefire.

    In his most recent speech on October 15, Qassem said a ceasefire was the only way Israel could guarantee the return of its residents to the north.

    The Israel-Hezbollah war erupted last month after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire.

    On September 23, Israel ramped up strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent in ground forces while killing one member of the group’s top leadership after another.

    The war has killed more than 1,700 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.

    Israel’s military says it has lost 37 soldiers in its Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations there on September 30.

  • Hezbollah says will escalate war with Israel after Hamas leader killed

    Hezbollah says will escalate war with Israel after Hamas leader killed

    Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said on Friday it was moving to a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel.

    In the same position Iran said “the spirit of resistance will be strengthened” after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

    Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed during an operation  by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday, a pivotal event in the year-long conflict.

    Western leaders said his death offered an opportunity for the conflict to end, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would go on until the hostages seized by Hamas militants were returned.

    “Today, we have settled the score. Today evil has been dealt a blow but our task has still not been completed,” Netanyahu said in a recorded video statement after Sinwar’s death was confirmed on Thursday.

    “To the dear hostage families, I say: This is an important moment in the war.

    “We will continue full force until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home, .”

    Sinwar, who was named as Hamas’ overall leader following the assassination of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, was believed to have been hiding in the warren of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza over the past two decades.

    He was killed during a gun battle in southern Gaza on Wednesday by Israeli troops who were initially unaware that they had caught their country’s number one enemy, Israeli officials said.

    The military released drone video of what it said was Sinwar, sitting on an armchair and covered in dust inside a destroyed building.

    Hamas has not made any comment itself, but sources within the group have said the indications they have seen suggest Sinwar was indeed killed by Israeli troops.

    In the face of Western hopes of a ceasefire, Sinwar’s death could dial up hostilities in the Middle East where the prospect of an even wider conflict has grown.

    Israel launched a ground campaign in Lebanon this month and is now planning a response to an Oct. 1 missile attack carried out by Iran, ally of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

    But the demise of the man who planned the attack last year in which fighters killed 1,200 people in Israel and captured more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, could also help push forward stalled efforts to end the war in which Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

    U.S. President Joe Biden, who spoke to Netanyahu by phone to congratulate him, said Sinwar’s death provided a chance for the conflict in Gaza to finally end and for Israeli hostages to be brought home.

    The U.S. wants to kick-start talks on a proposal to achieve a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, calling Sinwar the “chief obstacle” to ending the war.

    “That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.

    In recent weeks, Sinwar had refused to negotiate at all, Miller said.

    Iran indicated no sign the killing would shift its support.

    “The spirit of resistance will be strengthened” following the death of Sinwar, its mission to the United Nations said.

    Hezbollah was also defiant, announcing “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel”.

    The Israeli military said on Friday it had also killed Muhammad Hassin Ramal, Hezbollah’s commander of the Tayibe area in southern Lebanon.

    Families of Israeli hostages said that while the killing of Sinwar was a significant achievement, it would not be complete while hostages are still in Gaza.

  • Israeli army announces killing of Hezbollah HQ commander

    Israeli army announces killing of Hezbollah HQ commander

    The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Tuesday morning announced the killing of Suhail Hussein Husseini, Commander of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant organisation at its headquarters.

    According to a statement issued by the IDF, the Israeli Air Force conducted a “precise, intelligence-based strike in the area of Beirut’’ that killed Husseini.

    The IDF said that the headquarters oversees logistics within Hezbollah and is in charge of budgeting and management of the various units in the organisation.

    It said that Husseini played a crucial role in weapon transfers between Iran and Hezbollah.

    He was responsible for distributing advanced weaponry among Hezbollah’s units, overseeing both the transportation and allocation of these arms.

    Husseini was also a member of the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s senior military leadership council, the statement said.

    IDF said the headquarters included Hezbollah’s Research and Development Unit, which is responsible for manufacturing precision-guided missiles and managing the storage and transportation of weapons in Lebanon.

    In his role, Husseini was responsible for the budgeting and logistical management of Hezbollah’s most sensitive projects, including the organisation’s war plans.

    Husseini also engaged in other special operations, such as coordinating attacks against Israel from Lebanon and Syria, the statement added.

  • Update: Hezbollah reports clash with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon

    Update: Hezbollah reports clash with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon

    The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement has said its fighters clashed at dawn on Wednesday with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

    The militia added in a statement that its fighters had confronted an Israeli infantry force that had attempted to infiltrate the town of Adaisseh in southern Lebanon and forced it to retreat.

    There were casualties on the Israeli side, it claimed. The Israeli military initially did not comment on the alleged ground fighting.

    Lebanese state news agency NNA reported that Israel’s military was shelling Adaisseh and other surrounding areas with artillery and attacking from the air.

    In several villages, Israel’s military had fired flares, which can help make combat areas more visible during overnight ground operations.

    Ground troops can also use flares to signal their location to other units or aircraft.

  • Netanyahu denies report of imminent ceasefire

    Netanyahu denies report of imminent ceasefire

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a report he has given the green light for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

    A group of countries led by the U.S. and France is working to secure a deal for the ceasefire.

    “The report about a ceasefire is incorrect,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

    “This is an American-French proposal that the prime minister has not even responded to.”

    A report by broadcaster N12 that Netanyahu had instructed the army to reduce attacks in the northern neighbouring country was also “the opposite of the truth,” his office said.

    “The prime minister has directed the IDF to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan that was presented to him.”

    A joint demand for a ceasefire lasting 21 days was earlier issued by a handful of countries, including the U.S., Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

    The demand had been coordinated with Israel, according to the U.S. government. White House spokesman John Kirby said the statement “wasn’t just drawn up in a vacuum.”

    It was done after careful consultation, Kirby said, “not only with the countries that signed on to it but Israel itself.”

    The pause is intended to create space for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the nearly year-long Gaza war.

  • War: Israel launches attack on Lebanon’s Hezbollah

    War: Israel launches attack on Lebanon’s Hezbollah

    Hezbollah a militant group in Lebanon suffered series of attacks from Israeli military just hours after Iran attacked Jerusalem with missiles and drones.

    According to Fox news the fresh wave of Israeli attacks targeted a Hezbollah weapons manufacturing facility as well as other targets, according to the IDF.

    “A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a number of military structures in a complex belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces in the area of Jbaa in southern Lebanon,” Israeli forces said in a statement.

    “Earlier during the night, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah military structures in the areas of Khiam and Kfarkela.”

    However, Israel is yet to strike Iran directly following an attack, but the country’s ultimate plans for a response remain unclear.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed last week to respond to any Iranian assault in kind.

    Meanwhile, United States president, Joe Biden has advised Israel not to retaliate, given that its air defenses shot down roughly 99 per cent of Iran’s 300 missiles and drones during Saturday’s attack.

     

    Although, President Biden is reportedly advising Israel not to retaliate, given that its air defenses shot down roughly 99 per cent of Iran’s 300 missiles and drones during Saturday’s attack.

    Biden has assured Israel of unwavering support in the face of any threats or attack.

     

  • Israel evacuates 28 locations bordering Lebanon

    Israel evacuates 28 locations bordering Lebanon

    Following repeated attacks by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia from southern Lebanon, Israel has ordered the evacuation of settlements up to 2 kilometres from the border area.

    The office of Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that 28 towns on Israel’s northern border were affected.

    The residents were to be taken to safety at state expense and housed in guest houses.

    The Israeli army had already declared a four kilometre-wide strip in the border area a restricted zone on Sunday.

    Since the unprecedented surprise of attack by Hamas on Israel and the counter-attacks by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, there has been increasing violent on the border between Israel and Lebanon in recent days.

    This has fueled concerns of a further regional escalation of the conflict.

  • When the time comes, we will act – Hezbollah threatens Israel

    When the time comes, we will act – Hezbollah threatens Israel

    Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group would not be swayed by calls for it to stay on the sidelines of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, saying the party was “fully ready” to contribute to the fighting.

    “The behind-the-scenes calls with us by great powers, Arab countries, envoys of the United Nations, directly and indirectly telling us not to interfere will have no effect,” he told supporters gathered in the southern Beirut suburb for a rally.

    “Hezbollah knows its duties perfectly well. We are prepared and ready, fully ready,” Qassem said.

    The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border multiple times in the past week in the deadliest confrontations since they fought a month-long war in 2006.

    The cross-border rocket fire and shelling followed the assault by Palestinian faction Hamas against Israeli towns and Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

    But sources say Hezbollah has designed its moves so far to be limited in scope, preventing a big spillover into Lebanon while keeping Israeli forces occupied.

    “The question being asked, which everyone is waiting for, is: what Hezbollah will do and what will its contribution be?” Qassem said.

    “We will contribute to the confrontation within our plan… when the time comes for any action, we will carry it out,” he added.

    Qassem spoke at a rally where hundreds of people had gathered in solidarity with Palestinians, waving the flags of Palestine and of Hezbollah.

    Other rallies were organised in Palestinian camps as well as cities across southern and eastern Lebanon where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

    Fearing a breakaway group might try to cross the border, the Lebanese army deployed units across the south.

    Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has not yet commented on developments.

    He met on Friday morning with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

    Amirabdollahian said on Thursday that Iran’s allies in the region would respond to Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians and that Israel would then have to bear the consequences.