Hezbollah deputy secretary says entering a new phase of confrontation with Israel
Deputy Secretary General of the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah" Naim Qassem announced the entry into a new phase of confrontation with Israel under the name of "Battle of Open Account". The Almayadeen TV channel reported on September 22.
"Israel has committed three war crimes that hurt us and represent the highest level of brutality we have never seen before," he emphasized, referring to the Israeli army (IDF) attacks on Lebanon's suburbs.
Addressing Israel, Kassem said the country's economy will collapse and its goals will never be achieved, adding that Tel Aviv has taken "the resistance in Palestine to an international level."
On the night of Sept. 22, the IDF said Lebanon struck Israel with 10 rockets. Hezbollah indicated that the target was the Israeli Air Force Ramat David airbase, which is about 50 kilometers from the Lebanese border. On the same day, it was reported that more than 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon, which were intercepted or fell in open terrain.
The day before, on September 21, Israel imposed a special situation in the north of the country due to the threat of shelling from Lebanon. In particular, there appeared restrictions on meetings there: groups on the street should not be more than 30 people, and indoors - more than 300.
On September 20, Israel targeted Lebanon's capital Beirut - the IDF sought to eliminate Hezbollah Shiite commander Ibrahim Aqil, who is a member of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah's top military body, the Jihad Council. The movement confirmed Akil's death. Fifteen other members of the movement were killed along with him, including senior commanders of the Radwan special forces. The country's health ministry later said the number of victims of the attack had risen to 45.
On September 19, the Israel Defense Forces said its military launched a series of attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, hitting 100 launchers and facilities of the group.
On Sept. 17, multiple people were seriously injured in pager explosions in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The next day, various wireless devices exploded in cars and on motorcycles. These were portable radios, which were different from pagers. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah representatives blamed Israel for the explosions. The number of wounded exceeded 4 thousand, 400 people are in serious condition, at least 37 died.
Later, Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog said that Tel Aviv was not involved in the explosion of pagers in Lebanon, because it does not want to enter into war with him. The head of state noted that Hezbollah has many ill-wishers who are capable of such a thing.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, as well as invaded the border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.
