Hezbollah announces increased attacks on Israel after killing of commander

Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it would intensify its attacks along the Lebanese-Israeli border to avenge Israel’s killing of its highest-ranking military commander since the latest wave of violence began eight months ago.

“Our response to the martyrdom of Abu Taleb will be to intensify our operations in severity, strength, quantity and quality,” said Hachem Saffieddine, a senior Hezbollah official, during a mourning ceremony for Taleb Sami Abdullah. “Let the enemy wait for us on the battlefield.”

Hezbollah launched a massive rocket attack on northern Israel on Wednesday, further escalating tensions as the fate of an internationally backed plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip hung in the balance.

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed ally of the Palestinian Hamas, has been exchanging fire with Israel almost daily since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. It says it will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, raising fears of a regional conflagration.

Abdullah, 55, was killed in an airstrike late Tuesday. His coffin was brought to the Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut on Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters and senior officials of the militant group attended the ceremony. The body was taken to Abdullah’s hometown of Aajit for burial.

“It is natural that Abu Taleb was a constant target,” Saffieddine said, adding that Abdullah had participated in Hezbollah’s military operations, including the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Air raid sirens blared across northern Israel on Wednesday morning and the military said about 160 missiles were fired from southern Lebanon – one of the largest attacks since the recent fighting began. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Some missiles were intercepted while others ignited bush fires.

Hezbollah said it fired rockets and missiles at two military bases in retaliation for Abdullah’s killing.

The Israeli attack on Tuesday destroyed a house where Abdullah and three other politicians were meeting, about 10 kilometers from the border. The Israeli military said the attack was part of an assault on a Hezbollah command and control center from which it has directed attacks against Israel in recent months.

“Abdullah was one of Hezbollah’s highest-ranking commanders in southern Lebanon who planned, carried out and carried out a large number of attacks against Israeli civilians,” the military said.

A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that Abdullah was responsible for much of the Lebanese-Israeli front, including the area opposite the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, which Hezbollah has repeatedly attacked in recent days.

The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abdullah joined Hezbollah decades ago and took part in attacks on Israeli forces during the 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in May 2000.

Another Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, said Abdullah was the commander of the group’s Nasr unit, which is responsible for parts of southern Lebanon near the Israeli border.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed over 400 people since October, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but over 70 civilians and civilians have also been killed. On the Israeli side, 15 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

Abdullah’s sister Zeinab said her brother had been “seeking martyrdom for the past month,” adding that his death would encourage more young men to join the militant group.

“May God destroy Israel,” the woman told AP.

Mroue writes for the Associated Press.