Hezbollah Ready to Confront Israeli Ground Invasion Amid Intensified Conflicts

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Qassem, vowed readiness to confront any Israeli ground invasion after Israel assassinated the group's chief, Hassan Nasrallah. Israel's intensified attacks in Lebanon and Yemen have sparked fears of broader Middle East conflict. Over 1,000 Lebanese have died, with a million displaced. Iran warns of retaliation.

Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public address since Israel assassinated the group's chief Hassan Nasrallah last week, expressed the movement's readiness to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.

Qassem declared, "We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement."

Israeli forces have delivered multiple blows to Hezbollah in a two-week wave of attacks on targets in Lebanon, eliminating several commanders. Concerns rise that Israel's next move might involve sending ground troops and tanks over the border. Palestinian militant group Hamas reported that an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon, along with his family, in Tyre on Monday. Another Palestinian organization announced three of its leaders died in a strike in central Beirut.

The recent killings mark intensified Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon, spanning the Palestinian territories of Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Yemen, and within Israel itself. Hamas confirmed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, was killed, alongside his wife, son, and daughter, in a refugee camp in Tyre. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) reported three of its leaders were killed in a strike in Beirut's Kola district, the first known Israeli strike in central Beirut since the campaign began.

The latest strikes suggest that Israel has no plans to cease its multi-front offensive even after eliminating Nasrallah, Iran's strong ally in its "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and U.S. regional influence. Iran has vowed retaliation, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani stating Tehran will not let Israel's "criminal acts" go unanswered, referring to the deaths of Nasrallah and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan in Friday's strikes.

Lebanon's Health Ministry reports over 1,000 deaths and 6,000 injuries in the last two weeks, without distinguishing civilian casualties. The government states that one million people, about a fifth of the population, have been displaced from their homes. The escalation has left Beirut residents on edge, worried about further military expansion.

A local resident, Nawel, expressed resignation and hope, saying, "There is nothing else to say or add, except God save Lebanon. What will happen to me is the same as what can happen to anyone."

(With inputs from agencies.)