Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said negotiations with Israel under fire would amount to “surrender”, as the Iran-backed group launched attacks and Israel said it was expanding a so-called “buffer zone” inside Lebanon.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had already “created a genuine security zone” and was now expanding it, pushing deeper into Lebanon.
“We are simply creating a larger buffer zone” that could prevent a ground invasion of Israel and missile attacks, Netanyahu said in a video shared by his office.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, issued dozens of statements claiming attacks on Israeli forces, and said it also launched missiles early on Thursday at military sites in central Israel, where air raid sirens sounded.
Channel 12 and other Israeli media reported that six rockets launched from Lebanon towards central areas were detected and intercepted, with emergency teams dispatched to inspect affected locations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on both sides to cease fire and warned Israel against replicating “the Gaza model” in southern Lebanon, raising fears of mass displacement.
Hezbollah said its fighters had launched more than 80 attacks on Wednesday, the largest daily number in the current war.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran’s then-supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Hezbollah chief Qassem on Wednesday said his group would have none of it: “When negotiations with the Israeli enemy are proposed under fire, this is an imposition of surrender.”