BEIRUT —The new leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qasem affirmed this Wednesday that this Lebanese Islamist group has the capacity to continue fighting against the Israeli army despite the blows received, but that he would accept a ceasefire under certain “conditions.”
Israel, in war open with Hezbollah since September, bombed strongholds of the Shiite movement in Lebanon on Wednesday, including the city of Baalbek, in search of the main leaders of the terrorist group.
A bombing near Nabatieh in the south killed the number two in Hezbollah’s elite force, Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, the Israeli military said.
His death would be added to the long list of senior movement officials assassinated by Israel, including its former leader, Hasan Naslará, killed in an Israeli bombing on September 27.
In his first speech since his appointment on Tuesday, Naim Qasem vowed to maintain his predecessor’s “war plan,” and said Hezbollah has “begun to recover” after Israel’s “painful blows.”
However, he maintained that he would accept a ceasefire with Israel, under conditions, although he noted that there is no viable agreement on the table.
Discussions are currently underway in the Israeli security cabinet over the terms of a truce.
Israel demands the withdrawal of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army along the Israeli border and an international mechanism to enforce the truce, according to media reports.
Hezbollah promised to fight to the end against Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, together with its ally Hamas.
Senior US officials traveled to Israel on Wednesday to advance agreements to end the wars in Lebanon and Gaza, the State Department said.
Mass evacuations
Israel has multiplied its bombings against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon since September 23, in parallel with a ground offensive launched on September 30 in the south of the country.
Israel affirms that it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in this border region to allow the return to the north of the country of 60,000 inhabitants displaced by the rockets that the terrorist group has launched into Israeli territory for more than a year.
In eastern Lebanon, residents of the ancient city of Baalbek fled en masse following an evacuation order from the Israeli army, warning that they were going to “act forcefully” against Hezbollah’s interests in the city and its surroundings. Nabatieh was also ordered evacuated.
According to the Lebanese news agency Ani, a dozen towns were bombed in the south, while fighting intensified in the Khiam sector, about six kilometers from the border.
Hezbollah announced that it launched drones and rockets against three military positions in northern Israel, claiming to have circumvented the Israeli air defense system, and one near Tel Aviv.
At least 1,754 people have died since September 23 in Lebanon.
A “one month” truce
Israeli bombing continued on Wednesday also in Gaza, when the mediating countries finalized a proposal for a short truce, “less than a month.”
The proposal also contemplates the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and an increase in humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory, he said.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been trying for months to forge a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The latest round of contacts in Doha ended on Monday with the participation of the head of the Israeli foreign intelligence service, David Barnea; the director of the CIA, Bill Burns, and the Qatari prime minister, Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants killed 1,206 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251, according to a count based on official Israeli data.
In response, Israel launched a campaign against Hamas that has left 43,163 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to data from the Ministry of Health of this territory governed by the Islamist movement.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday urged his troops to maintain “pressure” in Gaza to obtain the release of dozens of hostages kidnapped more than a year ago by Hamas.
