News - Middle East: Hezbollah has dismissed as “false” Israel’s claim that its forces have crossed into southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese resistance movement says its fighters are ready for a “direct confrontation” if Israeli troops enter.

Spokesman Mohammed Afifi made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday, after the Israeli military announced its troops had entered southern Lebanon earlier in the day in preparation for a ground operation.

Afifi went on to say that "no direct ground clashes have yet taken place between the resistance fighters and the occupation forces," emphasizing that the allegations are false.

"Hezbollah fighters are ready for a direct confrontation with enemy forces that dare to or try to enter Lebanon to inflict casualties among them.”

Afifi further stated that Hezbollah's firing of medium-range missiles toward the central part of the occupied territories “is only the beginning,” hours after the resistance group targeted Israel's Glilot military base and Mossad headquarters in the outskirts of Tel Aviv with salvos of Fadi-4 rockets.

In a post on X on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it is conducting a “limited ground incursion” against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, warning nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities to evacuate north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border.

The military had earlier warned people not to travel to the area south of the Litani Rover, which has emerged as the center of the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

The latest development comes amid a major escalation in Israel’s acts of terror and aggression in Lebanon that saw the regime assassinating Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on southern Beirut.

The death toll from Israeli aerial assaults across Lebanon since early October 2023 has passed the 1,700 mark with nearly 8,770 injured, according to Lebanese government data. In response, Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and drones towards Israeli targets.

Source: Press TV