BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday his group would assess the impact of its missile and drone attack on Israeli military targets earlier in the day before deciding whether to carry out further attacks to avenge its slain commander.
The leader of the Lebanese militant group said in a televised address that his group had managed to carry out its attack “as planned,” denying Israeli military statements that its preemptive strikes had prevented a wider assault by the group.
Nasrallah, speaking about 12 hours after the heaviest exchange of fire between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel since hostilities erupted alongside the war in Gaza, said the group had deliberately refrained from targeting civilians or public infrastructure, including Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
He added that the group’s main target was a military intelligence base about 110 kilometers (70 miles) inside Israeli territory – the deepest attack so far and just 1.5 kilometers (one mile) north of Tel Aviv.
Nasrallah said the group would assess the results of the operation, which came in response to Israel’s assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr on the outskirts of Beirut last month.
“If the result is not sufficient, we reserve the right to respond at another time,” Nasrallah said.
He added that Hezbollah fighters successfully fired more than 300 Katyusha rockets to distract Israel’s Iron Dome defenses before sending in attack drones.
He added that these attacks included drones launched from the eastern Bekaa region, the first time the group has launched such attacks. He said that none of the drones or missile launchers were damaged in the preemptive strikes launched by Israel.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah was not planning a larger attack, specifically denying Israeli military statements that the group intended to fire thousands of shells.
But he acknowledged that the operation was delayed for several reasons, including what he called the “mass buildup” of Israeli and American military assets in the region.