Hezbollah steps up rocket fire as Israel sends more troops into Lebanon

BEIRUT — Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the terrorist group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike.

Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched about 180 rockets across the border.

Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s acting leader, said its military capabilities remain intact after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, and attacks that killed its top commanders in a matter of days. He said Israeli forces have not been able to advance since launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week.

Kassem, speaking by video from an undisclosed location, said Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.”

In a statement addressed to the people of Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hezbollah “weaker than it has been for many, many years.” He added: “We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement.”

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees the group’s political affairs, was generally regarded as the heir apparent. But no announcement has been made on a successor, and Safieddine has not appeared in public or made any public statements since Nasrallah’s death.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said Tuesday night that Israel was still checking the status of Safieddine, and accused Hezbollah of trying to hide details of a recent strike in Beirut on a location where he was believed to have been.

The Israeli military said it has dismantled terrorist infrastructure along the border and killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters.

There was no way to confirm battlefield claims made by either side.

The Israeli military said it deployed a fourth division in southern Lebanon and that operations have expanded to the west, but its focus still appears to be a narrow strip along the border.

A day after marking a year of war in Gaza, Israeli forces fought heavy battles Tuesday with Palestinian terrorists in the north, where residents have been ordered to evacuate.

Hezbollah says naming a new leader ‘difficult’

Hezbollah’s acting leader said Hezbollah backs efforts by Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to reach a cease-fire. Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, has been seen as the main interlocutor between the terrorist group and the United States, and has been trying to broker a cease-fire.

In a follow-up to Kassem’s speech, the group issued a statement saying it will “not abandon our support and backing for our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

The statement came in apparent response to reports that interpreted Kassem’s speech as suggesting the group would agree to a cease-fire in Lebanon without a cease-fire in Gaza, contrary to Hezbollah’s public stance that the two fronts are linked.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas-led terrorist attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran. Most rockets have been intercepted or fallen in open areas.

The Israeli army on Tuesday said about 180 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel, with most intercepted. A 70-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel, and Israeli media aired footage of what appeared to be minor damage to buildings near Haifa.

The military said late Tuesday that Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours had killed 50 Hezbollah fighters, including six whom it described as senior commanders. Israel says it will keep fighting until tens of thousands of displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes in the north.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon and over a million displaced since the fighting escalated in mid-September.

Israel’s response to Iran’s missile barrage

Last week, Iran launched its own barrage of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, in what it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, along with an Iranian general who was with him at the time, and Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas killed in an explosion in Tehran in July.

Israel has vowed to respond to the missile attack, without saying when or how.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was to meet in Washington with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, but Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Tuesday the meeting, expected for the following day, had been postponed. Asked for the reason, she referred reporters to Israeli officials. Netanyahu’s office had no immediate comment.

The Biden administration says it is opposed to an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which could further escalate regional tensions.

Heavy fighting and evacuation orders in Gaza

Heavy fighting raged in northern Gaza, the first target of Israel’s ground offensive in the war.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Israeli military called for three hospitals in northern Gaza — Kamal Adwan, Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — to evacuate patients and medical staff.

Israeli forces are also battling Hamas terrorists in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. They do not say how many were fighters.

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Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.