UPDATE - Hezbollah says imposed ‘new equation’ on Israel, cease-fire key to end conflict

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) – Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Tuesday that his group has imposed a “new equation” on Israel, saying a Gaza cease-fire is the key to ending the current conflict.

“We impose on Israel a new equation of 'harming the enemy' as rockets reached Haifa, Tel Aviv last few days,” Qassem said in a televised speech.

“We have the right to target any point in Israel after its violations in Lebanon,” he said. “Rocket fire will continue.”

The Hezbollah deputy chief said reaching a cease-fire in Gaza is the key to ending the current conflict in the region.

“The solution is a cease-fire based on an indirect agreement, after which the settlers can return to the north (in Israel),” he said. “We are not speaking from a position of weakness.”

Qassem said Israel and the US were seeking to create a new Middle East.

“Meanwhile, Tel Aviv seeks an expansionist occupation that does not settle for the Arab region but for the entire Islamic sphere, intending to control the world through its position in the region,” he added.

Lebanon “is part of this Israeli expansionist project,” Qassem said.

The Hezbollah leader said his group has moved since last month’s pager explosions from supporting Gaza to confrontation with Israel.

Qassem called the assassination of its top leadership a “severe blow.”

"Despite the severe blows we have endured, we have regained our strength on the battlefield,” he said. “Israel did not achieve its goal of eliminating the resistance.”

Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 42,400 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last year.

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, which have killed more than 1,500 people and injured over 4,500 others since Sept. 23.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 an incursion into southern Lebanon.