The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group warns archenemy Israel against wider war

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and ABBY SEWELL
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says it has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could help it target more critical positions deeper inside Israel in case of an all-out war. Hassan Nasrallah’s comments on Wednesday come as the cross-border conflict simmering between Hezbollah and Israel for more than eight months appears to be reaching a boiling point. The remarks also come a day after a top U.S. envoy met Lebanese officials in his latest attempt to ease tensions between Hezbollah and Israel over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Nasrallah said in 2021 that Hezbollah has 100,000 fighters, but now he claims it’s far beyond that. He didn’t elaborate.