“Israel will scream under missiles and drones,” assures Hezbollah

(Beirut) New Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Wednesday he had tens of thousands of fighters ready to confront the Israeli army and warned that no place in Israel was safe from Israeli missiles and drones. pro-Iranian movement.

As Naim Qassem’s pre-recorded speech was broadcast, the Israeli army issued an evacuation order for neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in an Israeli strike.

“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance fighters who can confront and hold their ground” against Israel, assured Sheikh Naïm Qassem, in this speech marking 40 days since the assassination of Nasrallah.

Around 120 projectiles fired Wednesday by Hezbollah from Lebanon crossed the border into Israeli territory, the Israeli army announced without saying how many had landed in the country or how many had been intercepted.

At 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern time), “approximately 120 projectiles fired by the terrorist organization Hezbollah crossed [la frontière] from Lebanon to Israel,” the army said in a statement, while an AFP journalist in Tel Aviv heard the sound of anti-aircraft interceptions after the sirens went off shortly after 4 p.m. missile warning in the coastal city.

A strike targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of Lebanese Hezbollah, on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after an evacuation order from the Israeli army, according to images from AFPTV.

A thick column of black smoke rose from this area. The strike came shortly after the broadcast of a pre-recorded speech by the new leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem.

The Israeli army has been carrying out a campaign of intensive strikes against Lebanon since September 23, targeting in particular Hezbollah strongholds, and launched a ground offensive on September 30.

Hezbollah ensures that its men repel Israeli incursions in the border areas, and announces daily launching rockets, missiles and drones on Israeli territory.

“Israel will scream [de douleur] under missiles and drones, no place in the Israeli entity is inaccessible to our drones and missiles,” he warned.

On Wednesday, the pro-Iranian movement claimed to have targeted a military base near Ben-Gurion airport, located south of Tel Aviv.

Traffic at Israel’s main airport, however, was not affected, according to the Israel Airports Authority.

The leader of Hezbollah also affirmed that he was not banking on the outcome of the elections in the United States, which is mediating for a ceasefire, to achieve an end to the fighting.

“We are not banking on the American elections. Whether Harris or Trump wins, that has no value for us,” declared Naïm Qassem in this speech recorded before the announcement of the Republican candidate’s victory.

Israeli opposition denounces dismissal of Defense Minister

The leaders of the opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu castigated the Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday for having dismissed his Defense Minister the day before due to “political” differences while the country has been at war on several fronts for more than a year.

Minister Yoav Gallant “was fired solely for political reasons,” said opposition leader Yaïr Lapid, himself briefly a former prime minister, during a press conference with the three other party leaders. opposition.

The leader of the nationalist Israel Beiteinou party, Avigdor Lieberman, was associated for the first time with other leaders of the left or the center.

“In the middle of a war, while Israel is fighting on multiple fronts, Mr. Netanyahu is weakening and harming the army […] simply to pass the exemption law” from compulsory military service for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, explained Mr. Lapid.

In June, the Supreme Court concluded that the exemption, dating from 1948, enjoyed by some men from this community had no legal basis. A bill must legalize these exemptions which concern around 66,000 students of Talmudic schools, while the ultra-Orthodox parties are key allies of Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition.

“All Hebrews should know that the army no longer has anyone to trust” after the departure of the minister, a former army general, he added. “The only person we could trust in this crazy government was dismissed yesterday,” he continued, calling for legislative elections to be held.

Benny Gantz, former member of the Israeli war cabinet, castigated “the timing of the decision” which according to him is “absolute negligence in terms of security” by denouncing a “political agreement made at the expense of our soldiers”.