Hezbollah’s response to commander’s assassination by Israel ‘inevitable’: Nasrallah

BEIRUT

Hezbollah said Tuesday that its response to Israel’s assassination of senior commander Fouad Shukr is “inevitable” amid rising fears of a full-blown war between the two sides.

Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb on July 30, with Israel claiming that the Hezbollah commander was behind a rocket attack that killed 12 people in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

“The state of anticipation (in Israel) today is part of the battle,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

Hezbollah could “within half an hour or an hour” destroy chemical, technology, and food factories in northern Israel, which it took about 34 years to build, he said.

"We will respond, but with deliberation and prudence,” the Hezbollah chief said. “Israel's waiting for our response is part of the punishment.”

Fears have grown over a full-blown war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group amid a months-long exchange of cross-border fire.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of an Israeli onslaught on Gaza which has killed over 39,600 people since last October following an attack by Hamas.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala