Hezbollah leader says more attacks on Israel are possible

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that his group would assess the impact of its rocket and drone strikes on Israeli military targets earlier in the day before determining whether to carry out more strikes to avenge a slain commander.

The head of the Lebanese armed group said in a televised address that it had been able to carry out its attack “as planned”, denying claims by the Israeli military that its pre-emptive strikes had stopped a wider attack by the group .

Nasrallah, speaking after the most intense exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Iran-backed Israel since hostilities broke out in parallel with the war in Gaza, said the group had intentionally refrained from targeting civilians or infrastructure public, including Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

He said the group’s main target was a military intelligence base about 110 km (70 miles) inside Israeli territory – the deepest attack ever and just 1.5 km (1 mile) north of Tel Aviv.

Nasrallah said the group would assess the results of the operation, a retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr on the outskirts of Beirut last month.

“If the result is not enough, then we reserve the right to respond another time,” said Nasrallah.

Hezbollah fighters successfully launched a volley of more than 300 Katyusha rockets to distract Israel’s Iron Dome defenses before sending in attack drones, he said.

They included drones fired from the eastern Bekaa Valley, a first for the group, he said. None of the drones or rocket launchers were damaged in Israel’s preemptive strikes, he said.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was not planning a larger attack, specifically denying Israeli military claims that the group was planning to fire thousands of projectiles.

But he acknowledged that the operation was delayed for several reasons, including what he called the “mobilization” of Israeli and American military assets in the region.