BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qasim said in a televised speech on Tuesday that the Iran-backed group’s capabilities were still intact and fighters were pushing back ground incursions into Lebanon despite Israel’s claims and “painful blows.” 
Vowing to continue the “resistance”, Qasim said more Israelis will be displaced from nothern Israel as the militant group expands its rocket fire.
“We are firing hundreds of rockets and dozens of drones. A large number of settlements and cities are under the fire of the resistance,” he added in his address the day after the first year anniversary of the October 7 attacks which prompted the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and later Lebanon killing thousands and displacing millions. “Our capabilities are fine and our fighters are deployed along the frontlines."
He said, “Israel said it will return its settlers to northern Israel, but we vow to displace thousands more.” 
Qasim noted that the displacement of one million Lebanese people amid the escalating violence was a “burden and sacrifice for the resistance.” 
“The enemy thinks that it will weaken us by targeting innocent civilians, so the only solution for us is to resist and persist,” said Qasim. 

He also said Israeli forces have not been able to advance after launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week. The Israeli military said a fourth division is now taking part in the incursion, which has expanded to the west, but operations still appear to be confined to a narrow strip along the border.

Support for ceasefire efforts
Qasim stressed that the group supported the efforts of Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri - a Hezbollah ally - to secure a ceasefire. 

“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,” Qasim said.
“If the enemy (Israel) continues its war, then the battlefield will decide,” he added.

While the group has replaced its slain commanders, Qassim said electing a new secretary general to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut last month, had been challenging due to the war, but “we will announce it once it has been done.” 
“No positions are vacant. All our roles are filled,” said the leader. 
He noted that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was a war about who cries first, and the militant group would not cry first.
Praising Iran’s support to the “resistance”, Qasim accused the US of being an essential partner of the crimes in Gaza. 

“The battle is not a battle for Iranian influence, but to help the Palestinians,” said Qasim.
He noted that Lebanon had always been a target for Israel even before its support for Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed to want to form a new Middle East. “We were always the target but the time had never come,” he said. 
“But for 11 months, our rockets have drained Israel,” said Qasim as he vowed victory. 
The regional tensions triggered a year ago by Palestinian armed group Hamas’ attack on southern Israel have spiraled to a series of Israeli operations by land and air over Lebanon and direct attacks by Iran onto Israeli military installations.
Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against any attacks on the Islamic Republic, a week after Tehran fired a barrage of missiles on it, putting the Middle East on edge.

RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa has announced the formation of a national team to reconstruct Gaza.

In a live broadcast from Ramallah on Tuesday, Mustafa said the state had already provided more than 400,000 people in Gaza with aid so far and would continue to do so.

The cost of reconstructing the Gaza Strip could reach $50 billion, according to a UN Development Program official.

Abdullah Al-Dardari, director of the UNDP Regional Office for Arab States, highlighted the critical situation following any potential ceasefire.

He emphasized that the most dangerous phase would be the day after a ceasefire, as displaced individuals and those who had lost their homes anxiously awaited the start of the reconstruction process.

War in Gaza broke out after Hamas provoked Israel on Oct. 7. Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians since, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents, prompted a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

The war in Gaza has spread through the region, drawing in Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

Israel has escalated ground and air offensives in recent weeks in Lebanon, killing hundreds, wounded thousands and displaced over a million.

Israel says it is attempting to dismantle Lebanese Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

Iran launched a barrage of missiles against Israel this week to which Israel has not yet responded.

Israeli operations have also escalated in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had launched targeted raids against Hezbollah in southwest Lebanon, expanding its ground operations along the country’s coastline after deploying more troops.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.

Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on Sept. 23.

Over the past year, the scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza has drawn some of the biggest global protests in years, including in the US, that saw weeks of pro-Palestinian college campus encampments.

Advocates have raised concerns over alarming antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric in some protests and counter-protests related to the conflict. Rights advocates have warned about rising threats against Muslims and Jews around the world.