Hezbollah says Israel will pay 'in blood' for killing civilians

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appears on a screen as he gives a televised address during a rally commemorating the group’s late leaders in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Iran-backed Hezbollah signalled on Friday it would escalate attacks on Israel in response to the deaths of 10 Lebanese civilians killed in Israeli attacks this week, saying Israel would pay a price “in blood”.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border since the Gaza war erupted in October, in their deadliest confrontation in nearly 20 years.

In a televised speech on Friday, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians in this week’s attacks, saying Israel could have avoided killing civilians.

“The response to the massacre should be continuing resistance work at the front and escalating resistance work at the front,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

“Our women and our children who were killed in these days, the enemy will pay the price of spilling their blood in blood,” he said.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir, Laila Bassam, Writing by Adam Makary and Tom Perry; Editing by Alex Richardson and Alison Williams)