Hezbollah deputy chief says in 'new phase' of battle with Israel

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said Sunday his group was in a "new phase" in its battle against Israel, which it has waged from across the Lebanese border since the Gaza war erupted.

"We have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning" with Israel, Qassem said at the funeral ceremony of a senior Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.

"Threats will not stop us... We are ready to face all military possibilities," he said, in the first comments from a senior group official since the strike on Beirut's southern suburbs killed Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force.

At least 15 Hezbollah members were killed in the strike, while Lebanon's health ministry put the death toll at 45 including civilians. Lebanon's civil defence later Sunday said the death toll had risen to 51.

Qassem said Hezbollah attacks on Israeli military production facilities and an air base near northern Israel's Haifa on Sunday were part of the new "open reckoning".

He repeated that only a ceasefire in Gaza would put a stop to his group's cross-border attacks, warning that "the Israeli military solution increases the dilemma for Israel and the residents of the north" of the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday announced an expansion of the country's war goals to include the return of northern Israeli residents displaced by the fighting.

Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in support of Gaza the start of the war there on October 7.

Violence has spiked dramatically in recent days, and Israel and Hezbollah traded heavy fire over the weekend, raising fears of all-out war.