Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif speaks next to portraits of slain Hezbollah's leaders Hassan Nasrallah (R) and Hashem Safieddine (L), during a press conference in south Beirut, on November 11, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
Hezbollah said on Monday that the Israeli military has been incapable of occupying even a single village in Lebanon since launching cross-border ground operations six weeks ago.
Israeli troops on Sept. 30 began its military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon's southern border area, a week after escalating airstrikes in Lebanon.
"After 45 days of bloody fighting, the enemy is still unable to occupy a single Lebanese village," Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif told a news conference in south Beirut, a stronghold of the movement and a repeated target of Israeli air raids.
Hezbollah, armed and financed by Iran, had on Oct. 23 issued a similar statement that said Israel's army "has not been able to fully establish its control or completely occupy any village" in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said its aim is to make its northern border safe for the return of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced when Hezbollah more than a year ago began cross-border fire, which it described as a "support front" for Gaza.
On Nov. 3, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops at the Lebanon border that the operation aimed to push Hezbollah back over the Litani River.
He said a second goal was to stop any attempt to rearm and the third was "to respond firmly to any action taken against us," according to his office.
On Monday Hezbollah spokesman Afif said the party's fighters had repulsed Israeli troops in Khiam, about six kilometers from the border.
He added that the Israelis also failed in attempts "to penetrate on several fronts at Bint Jbeil," about 17 kilometers southwest of Khiam.
Footage verified by AFP last week showed massive detonations in the village of Mais al-Jabal, between Bint Jbeil and Khiam.
Similar aerial scenes have been captured from several border villages since Israel sent in ground troops.
Hezbollah accuses Israel of applying a "scorched earth" policy on the frontier.
Hezbollah is 'ready for a long war'
On Monday, Hezbollah said it launched attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanese territory as well as on locations and military positions in north Israel.
The targets included military bases near the cities of Safed and Haifa, as well as an area north of Haifa, according to the Lebanese party.
Afif denied that Israeli strikes on Lebanon had diminished the party's missile stock.
He asked how that could be the case "when we targeted the suburbs of Tel Aviv several days ago" and employed for the first time Fateh missiles.
The party announced on Nov. 6 that it had begun to use Fateh-110 Iranian-made surface-to-surface guided missiles.
In a March report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies described Hezbollah as "probably the most heavily armed non-state group in the world," with an estimated 120,000-200,000 rockets and missiles.
Asked about cease-fire prospects, Afif said that since the election of Donald Trump last week to the United States presidency, there were "contacts between Washington, Moscow, Tehran and other capitals."
But he said, "according to my information nothing official has reached Hezbollah or the Lebanese state."
Israeli strikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders, but Afif said the party remains "ready for a long war."
On Monday, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported a slew of Israeli strikes on the country's south and struck an area in the east at the Syrian border.
The news agency also said Israeli troops "blew up a number of houses on the outskirts of" the border village of Aita al-Shaab, while Israeli airstrikes continued to target various regions in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa. Also, the agency reported Israel's use of internationally banned cluster bombs in Froun in the Bint Jbeil district.
