The leader of Hezbollah has condemned the “dangerous” killing of Hamas’s deputy leader, and warned Israel there will be “no ceiling and no rules” if it wages war on Lebanon.
Hassan Nasrallah vowed his militant group “will not be silent” following the killing of Saleh al Arouri in a drone strike in southern Beirut yesterday.
Hezbollah, which – like Hamas – is backed by Iran, has claimed Israel was behind the attack.
But Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied it carried it out, with an Israeli government adviser saying “whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.
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Who was killed Hamas leader?
Hezbollah leader warns Israel in speech – live updates
Fears of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza growing into a wider conflict remain, and in a televised address, Nasrallah said “war with us will be very costly”.
He added that anyone waging war against Lebanon “will regret it” as Hezbollah will fight “until the end”.
Nasrallah offered his condolences to Hamas for what he called a “flagrant Israeli aggression” on Tuesday night that killed al Arouri.
It was the first strike to hit Lebanon’s capital following nearly three months of almost daily clashes between the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah which have been confined to the border region.
Hezbollah launched rockets across the border on 8 October in support of Hamas.
A day earlier, Hamas had carried out a deadly assault in southern Israel that prompted a fierce Israeli bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip.
Nasrallah claims his group’s “quick” actions on 8 October, and the cross-border shelling since then, had stopped a broader aerial bombardment of Lebanon by Israel.
