O Hezbollah challenged Israel on Tuesday, despite the hard blows he received, threatening to attack him “everywhere” in his territory. In a speech, Hezbollah’s number two, Naim Qassemstated that “the solution” to end the war in Lebanon was “a ceasefire”, guaranteeing that his movement “would not be defeated”.
“As the Israeli enemy is bombing all of Lebanon, we have the right, in a defensive position, to attack in any part of the Israeli enemy entity, in the center, in the north and in the south,” said Naïm Qassem.
The Islamist group said it had targeted several Israeli tanks and bulldozers in the border town of Ramia, in southern Lebanon, and was involved in “hand-to-hand combat” with Israeli troops in this region.
Hezbollah also claimed to have fired rockets into Israeli territory
Israel intensified its aerial bombardments over Lebanon more than three weeks ago, particularly in the southern and eastern suburbs of Beirut, historic strongholds of the Shiite group, and then began a ground offensive on September 30.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging cross-border fire for a year, but since the recent escalation that began on September 23, at least 1,315 people have died in Lebanon, according to a tally by AFP based on official data.
Ceasefire and tensions between Israel and France
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati told AFP on Tuesday that Israel was carrying out “brief incursions” in the south and added that his country was ready to increase the number of army troops in this region, “in the event of a ceasefire”.
Benjamin Netanyahu said he was opposed to a “unilateral ceasefire, which would not change the security situation in Lebanon,” during a telephone conversation with Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement published by his office.
Netanyahu’s statement came shortly after Macron increased pressure on Israel on Tuesday to respect UN decisions.
“Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision,” he said, referring to the November 1947 vote by the United Nations General Assembly on the land-sharing plan between Palestine and a Hebrew state.
Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday night. “A reminder to the President of France: it was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors – including the Vichy Regime in France,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Tensions have risen between the two leaders since Macron insisted last week that stopping exports of weapons used by Israel in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon was the only way to end those wars.
France also considered it “completely unacceptable” that the peacekeeping forces of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which includes a French contingent, were “deliberately targeted by the Israeli armed forces”, after several of them were injured by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon.
“This is not the time to move away from UN decisions”, highlighted Macron, according to participants in the Council of Ministers.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which marked the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, states that only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL peacekeeping forces should be deployed to southern Lebanon.
