Hezbollah MP: group will respond ‘double’ over Lebanese civilians hurt

Following an incident in south Lebanon that claimed the lives of three children and their grandmother, a politician for Hezbollah declared on Tuesday that the militant Lebanese organization would retaliate “double” to any Israeli attacks on civilian targets.

The comments are a reflection of the unstable situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border, where Israel is invading the Gaza Strip, and fatal skirmishes between Israeli soldiers and rebels supported by Iran are stoking worries of a more significant regional conflict.

At the burial of the four Lebanese martyrs in the south on Sunday, Ali Fayyad declared, “The resistance will respond double to any aggression that targets civilians.”

He made reference to the significant organization that Iran supports by saying, “It hasn’t shown all its weight yet.” He didn’t go into detail.

According to Lebanese authorities, an Israeli attack hit the family’s car on Sunday. The Israeli military claimed that it was investigating claims that people may have been inside a car that its forces had “identified as a suspected transport for terrorists” and that they had engaged the vehicle in Lebanon.

During the funeral, the family sobbed over four caskets covered in the flags of a nearby scouting group and Lebanon. The three girls, who were between the ages of ten and fourteen, carried a banner with the Hezbollah logo, claiming to be martyrs.

In reaction to an Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught on Israeli communities, Israel has been bombarding Hamas, the Palestinian affiliate of Hezbollah, in Gaza, resulting in the bloodiest violence along the Lebanese-Israeli boundary since 2006.

According to Israeli data, Hamas was responsible for 1,400 murders of Israelis. Ten thousand Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to enclave health authorities.

On Monday, Israel declared that it had hit Hezbollah sites in retaliation for a heavy rocket bombardment directed into Israeli cities in the north.

Lebanese security authorities report that around 60 Hezbollah members and 10 civilians have been killed in the conflict along the border with Lebanon. One civilian and at least seven Israeli troops have died.