US envoy calls for diplomatic solution as Hezbollah touts firepower
Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia said on Thursday it has only shown a fraction of its capabilities since the outbreak of the Gaza war and the violent fighting on the border with Israel, as a US special envoy in Beirut urged a diplomatic solution.
"The resistance has used only a tiny part of its capabilities - namely weapons, missiles and expertise - in its operations," said Ali Damoush, deputy chairman of Hezbollah's Executive Council.
"If the enemy forces war on us, we will show him all our capabilities and our power, Damoush said in a statement.
He warned Israel of imposing what he described as "a new equation" on Lebanon using threats and escalation.
He stressed that his movement "will not accept the imposition of a new equation that enables the enemy [Israel] to continue its crimes at whatever cost."
Damoush's remarks were made shortly before the arrival of US envoy and mediator Amos Hochstein in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Hochstein reiterated his country's call for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Shiite Hezbollah and Israel.
"We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in south Lebanon ... as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north," Hochstein told reporters in Beirut after meeting with House Speaker Nabih Berri.
Lebanese caretaker prime minister Nagib Mikati said a ceasefire in Gaza as well as an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the repeated violations of Lebanese sovereignty must be a priority.
"We want peace and stability through adherence to international resolutions," Mikati told the visiting US envoy.
Hochstein travelled to Lebanon to negotiate a possible ceasefire on the Israeli-Lebanese border, according to government sources.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Friday that negotiations for an agreement on the border would only take place after the "aggression against Gaza" had ended.
"We face a real opportunity to completely liberate every inch of our country," added Nasrallah.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7, there have been daily confrontations between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
There have been numerous deaths on both sides in the worst escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006. There are concerns that the conflict will spread further to Lebanon and the region.
Two volunteers of Hezbollah-funded rescue teams were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to Lebanese security sources and the militia.
Lebanese security sources said Israeli warplanes had struck the Islamic Health Society in the Lebanese town of Hanine, killing the two Hezbollah paramedics and injuring several others.
The Lebanese Health Ministry condemned the attack which targeted what it described as "a non-military health centre."
Hezbollah said its fighters had fired dozens of rockets on Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel in response.
The Israeli army confirmed that sirens went off in the areas of Kiryat Shmona and Margaliot in northern Israel and that approximately 10 launches from Lebanon towards Israel had been identified - three of which were intercepted.
Hezbollah had claimed at least five attacks on posts in northern Israel on Thursday.
In response, the Israeli army said its warplanes and artillery struck a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
