The Lebanese Hezbollah group vowed to launch a new phase of the fight against invading Israeli forces on Friday, a day after Israel announced that its forces in the Palestinian Gaza Strip had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the main architect of the IDF’s brutal attack on Israel last year. It sparked the current conflict
The killing of Sinwar in what appears to be a chance encounter on the front line with Israeli forces provides a potential opportunity to change the dynamic in the Gaza conflict even as Israel continues its offensive against Hezbollah along its northern border with Lebanon and continues its aerial bombardment in other areas of Lebanon. . Both Hamas and Hezbollah enjoy support from Iran, which praised Sinwar and described him as a martyr who can inspire others to challenge Israel.
Israel pledged to politically destroy Hamas in Gaza, and killing Sinwar was a top military priority.
Hamas has not yet commented directly on the Israeli announcement, but photos apparently taken by Israeli forces from the scene of the incident showed the body of a man who appeared to be Sinwar half-buried under the rubble with a deep wound on his head.
A statement issued by a Hamas political leader abroad on Friday appeared to be a reference to Sinwar’s killing, saying that Israel was wrong if it “believed that killing our leaders would mean the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people.”
A member of the Hamas political bureau, Bassem Naeem, who usually resides in Qatar, said that former leaders of the movement were also killed, and “Hamas has become stronger and more popular every time, and these leaders have become icons for future generations to continue the journey toward progress.” Free Palestine.”
He added that “it is painful and sad to lose beloved people, especially exceptional leaders,” but the Palestinian armed group is confident that it “will prevail in the end.”
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But when asked if the statement was confirmation of Sinwar’s killing, Naim said it was not.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech announcing his death on Thursday evening that “our war is not over yet.” But many, from the governments of Israel’s allies to the exhausted residents of Gaza, expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the war.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations issued a statement in honor of Sinwar, stressing that he died on the battlefield and not in hiding, unlike Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was executed by hanging in 2006.
“When American forces pulled a disheveled Saddam Hussein from an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him even though he was armed. Those who viewed Saddam as a model of resistance eventually collapsed,” the statement said. “But when Muslims look to the martyr Sinwar standing On the battlefield – in combat uniform and in the open, not in cover, facing the enemy – the spirit of resistance will be strengthened.”
More than a million people were killed on both sides during the brutal Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s that began when Saddam Hussein launched an invasion of Iran.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah issued a statement early Friday saying its fighters had used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones against Israel for the first time in recent days.
The statement appears to refer to a drone loaded with explosives that evaded Israel’s multi-layered air defense system and crashed into a dining hall at a military training camp deep inside Israel last Sunday night, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens.
The group also announced earlier this week that it had fired a new type of missile called Qadir 2 toward the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah said that its fighters were working according to “pre-prepared plans” to fight the invading Israeli forces in several parts of southern Lebanon. It also announced several missile and artillery attacks on Israeli forces operating in villages in the border area in southern Lebanon during the night and Friday morning.
In one case, the group said it fired a heavy rocket barrage at Israeli soldiers who were trying to evacuate those wounded in a previous raid. The movement also said that it fired “large missile volleys” at a military barracks in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and in the Zevulun area north of Haifa.
Earlier this week, Hezbollah’s acting leader Naim Qassem warned that the group would continue to target wider areas of Israel unless a ceasefire is implemented in Lebanon.
While Israel was fighting militants in Lebanon and Gaza, its army said on Friday that its forces killed two militants who crossed into Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea from neighboring Jordan.
Such infiltrations are relatively rare, especially since Israel has strengthened border security since the Hamas attack in October 2023.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in the Israeli security fence and stormed it, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 250 others. The Israeli attack on Gaza killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The conflict destroyed vast areas of the Gaza Strip and caused the displacement of about 90% of the Strip’s population of 2.3 million people.
Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroueh in Beirut contributed
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
