US spokesperson says Hezbollah’s ceasefire call shows it is on the ‘back foot’
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Hezbollah’s call for a ceasefire shows it’s on the “back foot”. Miller added that the US was speaking to “a number of different players inside Lebanon”.
Earlier, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said the group’s fighting capabilities were intact and were pushing back Israel’s ground incursions despite “painful blows” by Israel. Qassem added that Hezbollah would continue fighting until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
US State Department spokesperson claims Hezbollah ‘refused’ ceasefire
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller claims that Hezbollah previously “refused” a ceasefire and now that it was “getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire”.
Hezbollah has consistently said they'll cease fire when a Gaza ceasefire is reached. It's still the same, Gaza is still tied to this ceasefire call. But Miller has to pretend military force is successful. I guess it can be eventually when there's no one left alive in the region...
Hezbollah says its rockets can reach anywhere in Israel
The Lebanese group stresses that its command and control structure has recovered fully and is now “stronger” than before. In a statement attributed to its military operation room, Hezbollah said its rockets are ready to be fired anywhere in Israel.
Hezbollah also threatened to put Haifa, Israel’s third largest city, under relentless rocket attack.
“The Israeli enemy’s aggression against our honourable people across all areas of Lebanon will make Haifa and places other than Haifa the same as Kiryat Shmona and Metula for our rockets,” the group said in a statement.
Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets towards Haifa earlier in the day, many of which fell in the city, evading Israel’s missile defences. A barrage of rockets earlier this week injured 10 people in Haifa.
Israeli army spokesperson says fate of Hezbollah’s Safieddine unknown
Israeli spokesperson Daniel Hagari says the military is still looking into whether top Hezbollah commander Hashem Safieddine was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut last week, Times of Israel reported.
During a news conference, Hagari said the army hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and that they knew Safieddine was inside the building. “The results of this strike are still being looked into. Hezbollah is trying to hide the details. When we know, we will update the public,” he said.
Hagari’s comments come after Netanyahu said earlier that the army had killed the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s projected successor, who is widely tipped to be Safieddine.
