'Lebanon’s Hezbollah raises combat readiness during Israeli drills'

The Lebanese media say the Hezbollah resistance movement has moved to high alert and significantly increased its combat readiness during the Israeli regime’s ongoing military drills in the occupied territories.

Lebanon’s Arabic-language online newspaper el-Nashra made the announcement on Saturday and said Hezbollah was on the highest alert level since the 33-day Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

The Israeli military started early on Sunday what it claimed was its “largest” exercise, saying the drills would last about a month and the participants would practice combat and emergency scenarios in all fields.

The regime added that the drills involved both regular and reserve forces from the entire military commands and forces.

Israel will be hit by 2,000 missiles a day in future war with Hezbollah: Israeli general

A senior Israeli general says the occupied territories will be hit by 2,000 rockets and missiles every day during a future war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

The secretary-general of Hezbollah had earlier announced that the resistance forces would be on alert during the Israeli regime’s military exercise and warned Tel Aviv against committing any folly against Lebanon.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed in a televised speech on International Quds Day on Friday that the resistance forces would take unseen defensive measures and monitor the Zionist maneuvers.

“In Lebanon, I’ll tell you that we will be on alert starting from Sunday morning because the maneuver will start on Sunday,” Nasrallah said.

“We will take all the calm, suitable measures which don’t worry anyone inside Lebanon and will be out of sight… We’ll be cautious, alert, and ready. I warn Israeli enemy against any wrong move towards Lebanon during the drill,” he underlined.

Israel and Lebanon are technically at war due to the former’s continued occupation of Lebanese territory, including Shebaa Farms that the regime overran in a subsequent war in 1967. 

Israel launched two more wars, exclusively targeting Lebanon, in the 2000s, with Hezbollah forcing the regime into a retreat on both occasions.

In the 45th session of the Human Rights Council last September, Lebanon’s permanent mission to the UN affirmed the nation’s right to defend its sovereignty, noting that Hezbollah represented an integral part of the resistance.

‘Stop playing with fire,’ Nasrallah warns Israel

Hezbollah’s secretary-general has warned that any Israeli act of aggression against Lebanon will be met by a strong response from the resistance movement.

Hezbollah was established following the 1982 Israeli invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon and since then, the movement has grown into a powerful military force, dealing repeated blows to the Israeli military, including during the 33-day war in July 2006.

Last year, Hezbollah’s second-in-command hailed the 2000 liberation of southern Lebanon from the Israeli occupation as a “turning point” in the history of the Middle East, saying the victory put an end to the Israeli military’s invincibility myth and helped strengthen the faith of the young generations struggling to liberate Palestine from the Israeli occupiers.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the 2006 war, calls on Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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