TEHRAN – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Israel’s killing of top Hezbollah commanders couldn’t bring the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group to its knees.
The Israel-Lebanon border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October, after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel.
The violence has escalated dramatically since last week after coordinated sabotage attacks targeting Hezbollah communication devices killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes bombed Hezbollah targets for a third day, after air raids earlier this week killed at least 558 people in the deadliest day of violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Hezbollah also said it had fired a ballistic missile at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Wednesday, with the Israeli military describing the launch as unprecedented.
Khamenei said Hezbollah had “protected” Gaza since the start of the conflict.
“Until today, the victory has been for the Palestinian resistance and Hezbollah,” Khamenei said. “The final victory in this battle will belong to the resistance front and Hezbollah”. – AFP
