Hezbollah deputy chief says the militant group supports Lebanese efforts for a ceasefire with Israel.

Extract from ABC News

6 hours ago

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said the group will continue to fight despite the loss of their leader Hassan Nasrallah. (Reuters: Mohamed Azakir)

In short:

Hezbollah's deputy chief Naim Qassem says the group supports Lebanese efforts for a ceasefire with Israel.

Qassem's remarks were made in a 30-minute televised address.

He said Hezbollah would not be the first to yield in the war.

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Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said the militant group supported Lebanese efforts for a ceasefire with Israel, after two weeks of heavy Israeli strikes.

Qassem's remarks were shown on television after Israeli forces began ground operations in the south-west of Lebanon, expanding incursions into a new zone.

He said Hezbollah supported attempts by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to secure a halt to fighting, which has escalated in recent weeks with the Israeli ground incursions and the killing of top Hezbollah leaders.

"We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire," Qassem said in a 30-minute televised address, on Tuesday, local time.

The newest war in the Middle East is asymmetric

Photo shows two men look down as the look through the wreckage of a city building

In Beirut at night, you hear the constant low-level hum of Israeli drones. Sometimes, when it appears two or three drones hover over a target, the sound reaches a crescendo and a massive explosion often follows. Hezbollah is unable to shoot down any of these drones which present a round-the-clock threat.

It was not clear whether this signalled any change in stance after a year in which it has said it is fighting in support of the Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Qassem said Hezbollah would not be the first to yield in the war and that its capabilities were still intact. Israel has yet to advance after the ground clashes that broke out in south Lebanon a week ago, he added.

"In any case, after the issue of a ceasefire takes shape, and once diplomacy can achieve it, all of the other details can be discussed and decisions can be taken," Qassem said.

Read more on the Middle East war:

• One year of war in Gaza — what happened in the October 7 aftermath
• Thousands gather at pro-Palestine marches around the country
• ANALYSIS: A year into the Israel-Gaza war, the Middle East is on the verge of chaos. How does it end?

"If the enemy [Israel] continues its war, then the battlefield will decide."

The regional tensions triggered over a year ago by Palestinian armed group Hamas's terror attack on southern Israel have spiralled to a series of Israeli operations by land and air over Lebanon and direct attacks by Iran onto Israeli military installations.

Warning from Iran

Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against any attacks on the Islamic Republic, a week after Tehran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel.

Israel strikes southern Beirut, cuts off Syria crossing

Photo shows Flames and smoke rise from a town.

Iran supports a ceasefire in Lebanon "on the condition that it would be acceptable to the Lebanese people, acceptable to the resistance, and thirdly, it would be synchronised with a ceasefire in Gaza," the foreign minister says

Any attack on Iran's infrastructure will be met with retaliation, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.

Mr Araqchi will visit Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East starting on Tuesday to discuss regional issues and work on stopping Israel's assaults on Gaza and Lebanon. 

Gulf Arab states have sought to reassure Tehran of their neutrality in the Iran-Israel conflict, sources told Reuters last week.

"Our dialogue continues in regards to the developments in the region to prevent the shameless crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon in continuation of the crimes in Gaza," Mr Araqchi said in a video carried by state media.

"Starting today I'll start a trip to the region, to Riyadh and other capitals in the region and we will strive to have a collective movement from the countries of the region… to stop the brutal attacks in Lebanon."

Israel piles pressure on Hezbollah

In Lebanon, Israeli forces have piled more pressure on Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it was conducting "limited, localised, targeted operations" in Lebanon's south-west after announcing such operations for the south-east border area.

A World Food Programme official voiced concern about Lebanon's food supply, saying thousands of hectares of farmland across the country's south has burned or been abandoned.

"Agriculture-wise, food production-wise, [there is] extraordinary concern for Lebanon's ability to continue to feed itself," Matthew Hollingworth, WFP country director in Lebanon, told a Geneva press briefing, adding that harvests will not occur and produce is rotting in fields.

Israel warns it will expand ground offensive in southern Lebanon

World Health Organization official Ian Clarke in Beirut told the same briefing that there was a much higher risk of disease outbreaks among Lebanon's displaced population.

Israel's military struck Beirut's southern suburbs overnight again and said it killed a senior Hezbollah figure responsible for the group's budgeting and logistics. 

If confirmed, the death of Suhail Hussein Husseini would be the latest in a string of Israeli assassinations of leaders and commanders of Hezbollah and its ally Hamas.

In the biggest blow to Hezbollah in decades, Israel killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah with an air strike in Beirut's southern suburbs late last month.

Many Israelis have regained confidence in their long-vaunted military and intelligence after deadly blows in recent weeks to the command structure of Hezbollah.

The situation in Lebanon is getting worse by the day, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told the European Parliament, calling for a ceasefire.

Some 20 per cent of the Lebanese population had been forced to move, he said.

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