Lebanon prepared for full-scale war if 'Israel' wills it, Qassem says
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Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem underlines that Lebanon is prepared for a full-scale war if the Israeli occupation seeks to escalate in the north.
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Hezbollah Deputy Secretary Naim Qassem gives a speech during a rally on October 13, 2023 (AFP)
Hezbollah is prepared for a full-scale war if "Israel" chooses to escalate the situation in Lebanon, Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Tuesday.
"If Israel wants to wage a full-on war, we are ready for it," Qassem said. "Any Israeli expansion of the war on Lebanon will be met with destruction, devastation, and displacement in Israel."
Qassem's remarks come as tensions between the Israeli occupation and Lebanon are peaking following a series of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and subsequent retaliatory attacks from Hezbollah on occupied Palestine.
Qassem also dismissed claims that UNIFIL forces are withdrawing from the Lebanese-Israeli border, saying that these reports are false.
He added that Hezbollah has only used a small fraction of its capabilities in the recent fighting and that there was no serious decision taken by the United States to halt the Israeli war on Lebanon.
Qassem also criticized US President Joe Biden's ceasefire proposals, calling them "lacking in objectivity" and suggesting they were motivated by domestic US political considerations.
Talks about considerations for an escalation in Lebanon come after recent attacks from Hezbollah set the Israeli occupation ablaze.
Israeli media highlighted the extent of the damage caused by fires resulting from rockets and drones launched by the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah toward Israeli settlements in northern occupied Palestine and in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The media pointed out that the fires in the occupied Golan, which broke out after the barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon toward Katzrin, caused about 10,000 dunams of land to go up in flames.
Eran Haims, director of the Upper Galilee settlement in the "Israel" Nature and Parks Authority, reported that about 1,200 dunams were burned, including approximately 750 dunams in the Naftali reserve.
Israeli media reported that 17 people, including seven soldiers, were admitted to Ziv Hospital in the north overnight due to the fires.
Sharon Levy, director of the Golan Heights settlement in the Authority, indicated that the fire caused significant damage to the Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve and the Zavitan Stream, adding that several walking trails in the nature reserves in the settlement were also burned.
"This is significant damage, not a small fire. A fire of 10,000 acres is a big fire. Nature has the ability to recover, but the larger the fire, the slower the recovery," he mentioned.
The Authority estimated the recovery of some of the completely burned areas "will take years."
"We feel the north is in trouble," an Israeli settler in Katzrin was quoted by the Ynet news website as saying on Monday.
Regarding Hezbollah's launches, the settler said, "It's closing in on us, and we feel there's no real answer or response to this situation. We feel it's getting worse."
"The north is somewhat neglected and abandoned," the settler indicated.
