Beirut [Lebanon], October 1: The Hezbollah in Lebanon vowed on Monday to quickly choose a successor to killed leader Hassan Nasrallah, and said it would continue its decades-long fight against Israel, even as it faced a massive escalation in military pressure.
Deputy head Naim Kassem, in the first televised speech by a senior Hezbollah official since Nasrallah's death, said the group would choose a successor to assume the secretary general position "as soon as possible."
Kassem said that the group's structure allows it to find replacements for all senior members from among the ranks of deputies and other qualified members.
The Lebanese militia, considered a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union and Israel, has been launching attacks on northern Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza, in support of Hamas.
Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel.
"We know the battle could be long, and we are ready for any possibility. If Israel decides to launch a ground invasion, we are ready for a ground engagement," Kassem said.
"Israel will not be able to affect our military capabilities," he said, vowing to also continue their support for the Palestinians in Gaza.
Kassem's appearance on television, wearing black while sitting in a closed room, refutes rumours that he was killed in the same strike that killed Nasrallah.
The escalation between Israel and Hezbollah has heightened fears that the region is on the brink of all-out war.
Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities.
The international community is urging de-escalation amidst continued Israeli strikes and Hezbollah retaliations, but efforts for a ceasefire have so far been rejected by both sides.
On Sunday, Israel struck a port city in Yemen in a large-scale operation aimed at the Iran-allied Houthi militia.
Hamas leader in Lebanon, PFLP members killed Among the most high-profile figures to be killed in Israel's recent wave of airstrikes was the leader in Lebanon of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, the group said on Monday.
Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine was killed alongside family members in his home near the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, the statement said.
"Overnight the [Israeli Air Force] struck and eliminated the terrorist Fateh Sharif, head of the Lebanon Branch in the Hamas terrorist organization," the Israeli army said.
Another militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said meanwhile that several of its members had been killed in an airstrike on Beirut.
If confirmed this would mark the first time Israel has killed members of the group since the beginning of the Gaza war and the cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah that simultaneously broke out almost a year ago.
The PFLP said three of its leaders were killed in the strike on Beirut's central neighbourhood of Kola.
The Israeli army did not comment. Firing continues across Israel-Lebanon border Hezbollah has continued its rocket attacks from Lebanon into northern Israel, the Israeli military reported on Monday, with an Israeli gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea one apparent target of a drone attack.
Some 35 missiles were fired from Lebanon at Galilee and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli military said, and a rocket alarm rang out in the city of Safed.
The army also said that an Israeli missile boat had intercepted a drone flying over Israeli waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Army radio reported that the drone seemed to be targeting Israel's Karish gas platform.
Source: Qatar Tribune