BEIRUT: Lebanon faces the same devastation as Gaza unless its people reject Hezbollah, Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday.
“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” the Israeli prime minister said. “I say to you, the people of Lebanon: free your country from Hezbollah so this war can end.”
The Iran-backed militant group was “battered and broken” after an Israeli offensive that killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah and probably Hashem Safieddine, his expected successor, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
“Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” Gallant said. The latest senior Hezbollah official to die was Suhail Hussein Husseini, head of budgeting and logistics, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in south Beirut.
As Gallant spoke, Israel deployed a fourth army division into Lebanon as the military expanded operations from the southeast to the southwest. Troops from the 146th Division are the first reservists to join the invasion. “It is a dynamic type of operation, limited, targeted raids,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said.
Warning sirens sounded in northern Israel throughout Tuesday as Hezbollah fired almost 200 rockets at targets including the northern port city Haifa.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said he supported attempts by Lebanon’s parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri to secure a truce. For the first time, the end of war in Gaza was not mentioned as a condition.
Qassem said Hezbollah’s weapons were intact despite “painful blows” from Israel. “Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance’s missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are fine,” he said.
