Hezbollah steps up rocket fire citing commitment to Palestine

Hezbollah fired a barrage of around 180 rockets into Israel on Tuesday evening, as the militant group’s acting leader gave an address vowing that they would keep fighting.

The rockets fired by the Iran-backed militant group reached as far as the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, injuring one woman and prompting Israeli authorities to warn residents north of the city to stay inside.

The acting leader of the group, Sheikh Naim Kassem, insisted that Hezbollah’s military capabilities remained intact despite weeks of Israeli bombardment that has wiped out multiple senior figures.

Speaking by video in an undisclosed location Kassem said that Hezbollah would soon name a new leader to replace Hassam Nasrallah, who was killed in a targeted Israeli strike on central Beirut.

In the speech, Kassem said that Hezbollah backed efforts by Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to reach a cease-fire.

Later, the group released a statement clarifying it would not however agree to a cease-fire in Lebanon without a corresponding cease-fire in the Gaza strip — which has suffered devastating bombardment from Israeli forces for one year.

Kassem insisted that Hezbollah’s commitment to the Palestinian people remained “steadfast.”

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to the Lebanese people that Hezbollah was, “weaker than it has been for years” and insisted Israel had killed Nasrallah’s replacement, without offering a name.

Israel’s military said it deployed a fourth division in southern Lebanon in an apparent widening of their ground incursion, which they launched last week.

Israel said it will keep fighting against Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israeli residents who have been displaced as a result of hostilities can return to their homes in the north.