Hezbollah vows military defeat of Israel, says rocket attacks “only the beginning”

In response, Hezbollah has fired rockets deeper into Israel.

“Tel Aviv is just the beginning; Israel has only witnessed a small part,” Afif said during a televised press conference in the southern suburbs of Beirut, with the rubble of destroyed buildings behind him, at the site of a recent Israeli air strike.

“To the enemy, I say: you have only seen a few of our strikes so far.”

He added that Hezbollah’s “strategic stockpile is intact” and its fighters are “at the peak of readiness and at the highest levels of preparedness.”

“Our absolute priority now is to defeat the enemy and force them to stop the aggression. However, we welcome any internal or external political effort to achieve a cessation of aggression, as long as it aligns with our comprehensive vision of the battle, its circumstances, and its outcomes.”

He denied claims that weapons were stored in Beirut’s southern suburbs, accusing Israel of using timed bombs to make it appear so. He also reassured residents of the area, as well as those displaced from southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, that they would return home soon.