Israel’s military said on Tuesday it had deployed a fourth army division into south Lebanon, signalling an expanding ground offensive against Hezbollah, and said the successor to the Iran-backed group’s slain leader appeared to have been “eliminated”.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant made the announcement about Hashem Safieddine, in what would be the latest shock to Hezbollah’s hierarchy, as Israel began ground operations in southwest Lebanon, extending its incursions to a new zone.

As Hezbollah’s deputy leader left the door open to a negotiated ceasefire, the Israeli military said it had sent the 146th Division into Lebanon, the first reserve division to have been deployed over the border.

A military statement did not specify how many soldiers were now inside Lebanon. But the military had previously announced that three other army divisions were operating there, meaning that thousands of soldiers were likely on Lebanese soil.

The Israeli military announced on Oct. 1 that ground forces had entered Lebanon, initially with commando units that were then followed by regular armoured units and infantry units. The army has said the operation is limited in scope.

The heightened Middle East tensions kindled a year ago by Palestinian armed group Hamas’ attack from Gaza on southern Israel have escalated in recent weeks into an intensifying series of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Oct. 1, Iran, sponsor of both Hezbollah and Hamas, fired missiles at Israel. On Tuesday Iran warned Israel not to follow through on threats of retaliation. Its foreign minister said any attack on Iran’s infrastructure would be avenged.

Western powers are seeking a diplomatic solution, fearing the conflict could roil the wider, oil-producing Middle East.

The area of Israeli operations in Lebanon has been widened. The Israeli military said it was now conducting “limited, localised, targeted operations” in Lebanon’s southwest, having previously announced such operations in the southeast.

A military spokesperson declined to say how many troops were in Lebanon at one time. “It is a dynamic type of operation, limited, targeted raids and raids means in and out, means movement, means different locations, means different forces and so on,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told a briefing with reporters.

TRADING FIRE

Overnight, Israel again bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah is headquartered and said it had killed a figure responsible for the heavily armed Iranian proxy militia’s budgeting and logistics, Suhail Hussein Husseini – the latest in a strong of assassinations of some of Hezbollah’s top officials.

In northern Israel not far from the Lebanon border, warning sirens sounded regularly throughout Tuesday as authorities said Hezbollah fired almost 200 rockets into Israel.

Targets again included Haifa, the northern port city where there were multiple reports of damage to buildings from missile debris. Israel’s military said it had struck the launchers that fired the missiles at Haifa.

The mushrooming Israeli-Hezbollah conflict has killed well over 1,000 people in Lebanon in the past two weeks and prompted the mass flight of more than a million.

Israel’s stated objective is to make its northern areas safe from Hezbollah rocket fire and allow thousands of displaced residents to return.

NASRALLAH SUCCESSOR LIKELY ‘ELIMINATED’

Safieddine, the senior Hezbollah official, was widely expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, the Shi’ite Muslim movement’s longtime leader assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on south Beirut on Sept. 27. Safieddine has not been heard from publicly since another Israeli airstrike late last week.

“Hezbollah is an organisation without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” Gallant told officers at the Israeli military’s northern command centre, in a brief video segment distributed by the military.

Safieddine has been a prime target for Israel, nurtured as an influential leader and potential heir to Nasrallah. As head of Hezbollah’s executive council, he has overseen the group’s political affairs, while also sitting on the Jihad Council, which manages its military operations.

CEASEFIRE EFFORTS

In a televised speech from an undisclosed location shown before the release of Gallant’s video, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said he backed attempts to secure a truce.

For the first time, the end of war in Gaza was not mentioned as a pre-condition to halting combat on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Qassem said Hezbollah supported attempts by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to secure a halt to fighting.

It was not clear whether Qassem’s remarks signalled any change in stance, after a year in which the group has said it is fighting in support of the Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and would not stop without a ceasefire there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on Qassem’s remarks.

Qassem said Hezbollah’s capabilities were intact despite “painful blows” from Israel. “Dozens of cities are within range of the resistance’s missiles. We assure you that our capabilities are fine.”

(Reuters)