Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for its attack in southern Beirut earlier this week, which resulted in the death of the group’s top commander Fu’ad Shukr and at least five civilians, including two children, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
“This was not just an assassination. This was an assault,” Nasrallah declared in a passionate speech on Thursday afternoon during Shukr’s funeral procession in southern Beirut.
Nasrallah indicated that the response would exceed the typical border skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces that have been occurring during Israel’s conflict with Hamas, and stated that the retaliation would be “strategic.”
While he did not explicitly declare war, Nasrallah asserted that Israel had crossed “red lines” in Beirut and Tehran with the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, an act that Iran and Hamas attribute to Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the killing.
“They’ve provoked all of us,” Nasrallah said, referring to the Iran-backed network of armed groups across Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iraq.
