Hezbollah has warned that it sees the conflict with Israel moving to a “new and escalating phase” following Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Sinwar, seen as the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel, was killed during an operation by Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Wednesday.
The Israeli military released a drone video of what it said was Sinwar sitting on an armchair wearing a keffiyeh covered in dust inside a destroyed building in the Palestinian enclave.
UN and Western leaders said Sinwar’s death offered an opportunity for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end his war on Gaza, but the Israeli leader said the assault would continue until the hostages abducted by Hamas on 7 October 2023 were returned.
“Today we have settled the score. Today evil has been dealt a blow but our task has still not been completed,” Mr Netanyahu said in a recorded video statement after Sinwar’s death was confirmed on Thursday.
Hezbollah, which has been launching missiles into Israel since last October in support of Hamas, responded on Friday by announcing “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel”.
The statement from Hezbollah’s operations room early on Friday said that Hezbollah’s fighters have used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.
The statement appears to refer to a drone laden with explosives that bypassed Israel’s multi-billion dollar Iron Dome air defence system and slammed into a mess hall at a military training camp deep inside Israel, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens.
Hezbollah earlier this week said it also fired a new type of missile called Qader 2 toward the suburbs of Tel Aviv. The group claimed it shot down two Israeli Hermes 450 drones this week.
Hezbollah said its fighters are working according to “plans prepared in advance” to battle invading Israeli troops in several parts of south Lebanon.
Israel launched a ground campaign in Lebanon at the beginning of this month and is also planning a retaliation against Iran, after Tehran fired about 200 missiles against Israel, some of which also bypassed the Iron Dome.
Israeli airstrikes and its ground offensive have killed at least 2,377 people in Lebanon since last October, more than three quarters of them in the past month, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The fighting has displaced some 1.2 million people in Lebanon, including some 400,000 children, it said.
Iran said that Sinwar’s killing would strengthen the “spirit of resistance”. “When Muslims look up to martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield – in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” Iran’s mission to the UN said in a statement.
“He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forth his path for the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.”