Hezbollah said Israel will “pay the price” for killing 10 people in what is the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians since the Israel-Hamas war began four months ago.
Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah issued the warning after an Israeli airstrike launched Wednesday killed nearly a dozen, including at least three children, in Nabatieh.
“The enemy will pay the price for these crimes,” Fadlallah told Reuters. “The resistance will continue to practice its legitimate right to defend its people.”
“Crimes like this will not allow the occupation army to bring security to its settlers in the north or to pressure Lebanon into accepting its terms. The only available option is for it to stop the massacre in Gaza,” he continued.
Israel said it was responding to a cross-border rocket that had been launched, killing one IDF soldier and hospitalizing eight others in the City of Safed, which is roughly 10 miles from the Lebanese border. Hezbollah has yet to take responsibility for the attack,.
Several Lebanese terrorists, who were armed, were also killed in a separate airstrike, according to the group and security sources.
The Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been head-to-head since Oct. 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel.
Both sides have said they do not want war between them, and targeted attacks have remained near the border.
However, conflict could arise after the most recent attack, as a source familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking told Reuters that the strike on Nabatieh falls within the unwritten “rules of engagement.”
The terror group has been waging attacks on Israel near-daily since Oct. 7 and said it would only stop its attacks when Israel pulled out of Gaza, where more than 28,000 have died.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the strikes from Israel and instructed his foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib, to register a new complaint at the United Nations Security Council.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant recently discussed “threats and attacks” by Hezbollah with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss the thousands of displaced citizens and “ensuring security on the northern border.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the hostilities at the Lebanon-Israel border:
- Hezbollah says Israel will ‘pay the price’ after deadly attack
- At least 44 Palestinians killed in Rafah after Israeli airstrikes, including senior Hamas leaders
- Israeli airstrike takes out Hezbollah member in Lebanon in apparent shift to targeted killings
- IDF chief Herzi Halevi warns likelihood of Israel going to war in Lebanon is ‘higher than before’
On Thursday, rescue workers in Nabatieh scanned the damaged ground floor of a building for survivors and two ambulances were seen on sight in case more bodies were found.
More than 200 people have died in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah terrorists, since the tensions began.
