The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah announced Monday that it carried out a large-scale operation targeting the Israeli occupation's Khirbet Ma'ar military base, its artillery positions, and the assembly points of soldiers and vehicles in its vicinity.

The Resistance also announced that it targeted an Israeli assembly point in the vicinity of the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in the occupied Kfar Chouba hills with artillery shells in addition to targeting buildings in which Israeli soldiers were stationed in the Israeli settlement of Metula.

Later, Hezbollah mentioned that its fighters attacked two buildings sheltering Israeli soldiers in the settlements of Doviv and Avivim respectively with appropriate weapons, hitting them directly.  

The Resistance affirmed that its operations come in response to the Israeli occupation's attacks on southern Lebanese villages and civilian homes along the Lebanese-Palestinian border area.

Non-stop operations

Israeli media reported that three anti-tank missiles were fired at Metula, indicating that the Upper al-Jalil Council announced the closure of the road from the Tel Hai junction to Metula, following rocket launches from Lebanon.

"The fire does not stop in the north," reports said, explaining that since early Monday, at least 40 rockets as well as numerous anti-tank missiles had been fired from Lebanese territory into occupied Palestine.

Ceasefire in north hinges on Gaza ceasefire

The initiatives being proposed for a ceasefire with Lebanon are not viable unless they are based on a ceasefire, for that is the only means of addressing the core issue, Hezbollah deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Saturday.

Hezbollah's support for the Gaza Strip has hindered the Israeli occupation's war plans in Palestine and Lebanon in the present and for the future, he said.

"Those who fail to see the future, who are ignorant of this enemy, will not be able to understand the facts that indicate that this support will have benefits beyond supporting Gaza and beyond protecting Lebanon; it extends to forming a real deterrent force that confronts Israel and teaches it that it cannot cross the line," Sheikh Qassem underlined.

The initiatives being proposed for Lebanon and southern Lebanon are not viable unless they are based on a ceasefire, for that is the only means of addressing the core issue, he said.

"Whoever comes up with an initiative that entails a ceasefire in the south to relieve Israel so that it can bolster its positions in Gaza is calling on us to participate in supporting the Israeli enemy," he underlined.

"We are with Gaza and Palestine. Not with Israel. So let the war in Gaza stop first, and then it will stop in Lebanon," he said. "The threats that Israel will attack Lebanon make us more convinced of the righteousness of our confrontation and further bolster our position."

Only 3% of Hezbollah's stockpile

Sheikh Qassem cited Israeli reports that Hezbollah used only 3% of its military stockpile during about 7 months of the war, which yielded "great effects in terms of the displacement of settlers, inflicting great losses on Israel, exhausting its army, and giving a great example of steadfastness and sacrifice."

He also addressed Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant, who had underlined that the main goal was returning the settlers of northern occupied Palestine to their settlements and that the coming period would be decisive, saying: "The settlers of the north cannot be returned. This war will push their return further and further away," and may even end their settlement of the north altogether.

Sheikh Qassem went on to emphasize that "the continuation of the aggression against Lebanon will not bring back the settlers of the north." Instead, its expansion "will complicate life for them more and more," calling on the world to wake up and stop the war on the Gaza Strip.

"There is a decision by Hezbollah to respond proportionately to the Israeli aggression so that any Israeli expansion of the aggression would be met with a similar, fierce response from Hezbollah and the Resistance in Lebanon," the Hezbollah deputy chief underlined. "This decision is final."