The Japan Times - Hezbollah says ready for long battle as Israel threatens Lebanese infrastructure

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the Tehran-backed militant group attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

"We have prepared ourselves for a long confrontation, and God willing, they (Israelis) will be surprised on the battlefield," Qassem said in his second televised address since the latest war began.

"This is an existential battle, not a limited or simple battle."

Israel on Friday destroyed a bridge over the Litani River between the towns of Zrariyeh and Tayr Falsay, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. The river bisects southern Lebanon, from east to west.

In a statement, the Israeli military described the bridge as a "key crossing" for Hezbollah "from northern to southern Lebanon, to build up its power and prepare for combat".

The attack was the first on Lebanese public infrastructure to be acknowledged by Israel since the start of the Middle East war.

"This is just the beginning and the Lebanese government and the state of Lebanon will pay an increasing price in damage to Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah terrorists," the Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday.

He said Lebanon would suffer "loss of territory -- until it fulfils its central commitment of disarming Hezbollah".

Earlier this week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun offered to negotiate directly with Israel, but on Friday he said he had not received a response.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he told the Lebanese government that "you are playing with fire if you continue allowing Hezbollah to operate, in violation of your commitment to disarm it".

The Israeli military bombed several roads in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to the official National News Agency, blocking access from the north of the Litani River and from the Bekaa valley, an eastern area Hezbollah uses to transport weaponry.

- 'Stop the war' -

UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah to "stop the war" at the start of a visit to Beirut on Friday.

"My strong appeal to those parties, to Hezbollah and to Israel, is for a ceasefire to stop the war," Guterres said.

Guterres launched a $325 million humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon as it responds to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people by the war.

Israeli strikes continued on Friday, including an attack that killed eight people in the south Lebanese village of Miyeh w Miyeh near the port city of Sidon, according to the health ministry.

In the nearby village of Irkey, Mohammad Taqi buried his four daughters, aged six to 13, who were killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday along with five relatives.

"The Israeli enemy says every day that it is targeting infrastructure," he told AFP at the funeral, his head wrapped in a white bandage and his face covered in wounds.

"Is this the infrastructure? Have you seen it?" he asked, gesturing to his daughters' bodies.

"I've lost four daughters. I don't have any others. Zainab, Zahra, Malika and Yasmina," he said, adding that he had also lost his parents, brother, nephew and brother-in-law in the same strike.

In Sawaneh, Lebanon's health ministry said that a strike killed two paramedics, one from the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee and another from the Risala Scouts association, affiliated with the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally.

- Propaganda leaflets -

Hezbollah also launched attacks against Israeli forces on Friday, as part of what it said was a Quds Day operation.

Quds Day is an annual demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause in Iran, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

Israel's military also renewed its evacuation warnings, including for Beirut's southern suburbs, and launched several strikes on the area according to the NNA.

On Thursday it had issued a similar warning, expanding the evacuation zone in southern Lebanon to reach more than 40 kilometres from the Lebanon-Israel border.

Israeli planes also dropped leaflets over Beirut on Friday.

One of the leaflets, addressed to the Lebanese people, said: "You must disarm Hezbollah, Iran's shield" and "Lebanon is your decision, not someone else's".

K.Yoshida--JT