Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that his group would assess the impact of its rocket and drone attack on Israeli military targets earlier in the day before determining whether it would carry out further attacks to avenge a slain commander.
People watch Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised address, as they sit at a cafe in Sidon, Lebanon August 25, 2024. Reuters/Hassan Hankir
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that his group would assess the impact of its rocket and drone attack on Israeli military targets earlier in the day before determining whether it would carry out further attacks to avenge a slain commander.
The leader of the Lebanese armed group said in a televised address that it had been able to carry out its attack "as planned," denying statements by the Israeli military that its pre-emptive strikes had stopped a wider attack by the group.
Nasrallah, speaking about 12 hours after the most intense exchange of fire between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel since hostilities broke out in parallel with the war in Gaza, said the group had intentionally refrained from targeting civilians or public infrastructure, including Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
He said the group's main target was a military intelligence base about 110 km (70 miles) inside Israeli territory - the deepest attack yet and just 1.5 km (1 mile) north of Tel Aviv.
Nasrallah said the group would assess the results of the operation, a retaliation for Israel's killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr on the edges of Beirut last month.
"If the result is not enough, then we retain the right to respond another time," Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah fighters had successfully launched a volley of more than 300 Katyusha rockets to distract Israel's Iron Dome defences before sending attack drones, he said.
They included drones fired from the eastern Bekaa Valley, a first for the group, he said. None of the drone or rocket launchers were damaged in Israel's pre-emptive strikes, he said.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah had not planned a larger attack, specifically denying Israeli military statements that the group had intended to fire thousands of projectiles.
But he acknowledged that the operation had been delayed for several reasons, including what he called a "mobilization" of Israeli and American military assets in the region.
Reporting by Maya Gebeily
U.S. President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza on Tuesday and agreed to remain in close coordination in the coming hours, the White House said.
French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to visit Lebanon on Friday, marking the first visit by a foreign head of state since the election of Lebanon’s new president, Joseph Aoun, according to an announcement from the Lebanese presidency on Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday laid out plans for the post-war management of Gaza, saying the outgoing Biden administration would hand over the roadmap to President-elect Donald Trump's team to pick up if a ceasefire deal is reached.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.