Hezbollah will hit new targets in Israel if the occupation state keeps killing civilians in Lebanon, the group’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday. Nasrallah also noted a spike in the number of non-combatants killed in Lebanon in recent days, Reuters has reported.
Five civilians, all Syrians, three of them children, were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday and at least three Lebanese civilians were killed the day before, according to state media and security sources.
“Continuing to target civilians will push the resistance to launch missiles at settlements that were not previously targeted,” said Nasrallah during a televised address to mark the Muslim holy Day of Ashura.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a “support front” with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border army bases and settlements on 7 October.
Iran-aligned groups in the region, including armed Shi’a factions in Syria and Iraq as well as Yemen’s Houthis, have also been firing on Israel since shortly after the cross-border incursion and the start of Israel’s ongoing military offensive which has killed or wounded around 130,000 Palestinians.
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes have killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally. They have led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon.
READ: Hezbollah official says Netanyahu wants war to drag on for years