Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday his terror group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel, as the latter threatened to make Lebanon pay an “increasing price” in damage to infrastructure.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
“We have prepared ourselves for a long confrontation, and God willing, they (Israelis) will be surprised on the battlefield,” Qassem said in his second televised address since the latest war began.
Israel on Friday destroyed a bridge over the Litani River between the towns of Zrarieh and Tayr Falsay, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The river bisects southern Lebanon, from east to west.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the bridge was being used by Hezbollah as a “key crossing” to move from northern to southern Lebanon, “prepare for combat against IDF troops, and operate against the civilians of the State of Israel, while endangering Lebanese civilians and causing extensive destruction in populated areas.”
The attack was the first on Lebanese public infrastructure to be acknowledged by Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with the IDF saying it was necessary to strike the bridge to prevent a “threat to Israeli civilians, and the continued harm to Lebanese civilians.”
The military said Hezbollah also positioned rocket launchers near the bridge and carried out rocket attacks on Israel from the area recently.
“This is only the beginning, and the Lebanese government and the Lebanese state will pay an increasing price through damage to Lebanese national infrastructure that is used by Hezbollah terrorists,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said during an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and the military’s top brass.
“The Lebanese government, which misled and did not fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah, will pay increasing prices through damage to infrastructure and the loss of territory, until the central commitment of disarming Hezbollah is fulfilled,” he added.
The IDF bombed several roads in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to the official National News Agency, blocking access from the north of the Litani River and from the Bekaa valley, an eastern area Hezbollah uses to transport weaponry.
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