Beirut [Lebanon], September 23: The pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement vowed on Sunday to continue to fight Israel and support its main ally Hamas in Gaza despite the severe blow Israel dealt it this week, saying the conflict had entered a new phase.
"We follow the front of support and confrontation... we will kill them and fight from where they expect and from where they do not expect," said Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naeem Kassem, referring to Israelis. He spoke at the funeral of Ibrahim Akil, a key commander in the movement.
"We will now determine how to respond to the aggression, and we have entered a new phase with the Israeli army called the 'Battle of the Open Account,'" Kassem said. He vowed that the residents of northern Israel will not return, but instead, the displacement would increase as the movement increased its attacks into northern Israel from Lebanon.
"We are prepared to face all military possibilities and you will see the results," said Kassem referring to a possible war with Israel. Killed commander Akil was top Hezbollah strategist Akil, was killed along with 44 other people, when Israeli warplanes struck a building where he and other commanders from the movement's elite Radwan Force were holding a meeting under a residential building in Beirut's southern suburbs, a hotbed of the movement.
The Hezbollah reported launching an attack on an industrial complex and an Israeli military base near the port city of Haifa in northern Israel early on Sunday, while the Israeli army said it launched attacks on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the IDF reported on Sunday that Hezbollah had launched around 115 attacks on civilian targets in northern Israel. IDF forces were on high alert in the region to ward off the attacks and to "intensify" attacks on Hezbollah, it said. The attacks penetrated further south than previously.
Amid increased cross-border rocket attacks from Lebanon, hospitals in northern Israel have been instructed to move patients to shelters, Isreali media reported on Sunday.
Rambam Hospital in Haifa announced it would begin relocating patients to its underground emergency facility.
Source: Qatar Tribune