Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli strikes 'not end of the story'

Hezbollah says delayed response to top commander’s killing

Reuters

Updated At : 07:59 PM Aug 25, 2024 IST

An official property surveyor assesses the damage to a residential building following a direct hit from a projectile, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones towards Israel in what the Iranian-backed movement said was a response to the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month, in northern Israel August 25, 2024. REUTERS

Jerusalem/Cairo, August 25

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel took pre-emptive action against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and said air defences had intercepted all drones launched against Israel.

He said the leaders of Hezbollah and Iran should know that the response was "another step towards changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes" and that "this is not the end of the story".

Meanwhile, a Hezbollah official said the group's rocket and drone attack against Israel on Sunday in retaliation for a top commander's killing last month had been delayed by "political considerations", chiefly among them the ongoing talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal for the Gaza Strip.

The official, in written comments shared with media outlets, said the group had "worked" to make sure its response to the killing of Fuad Shukr on July 30 would not trigger a full-scale war.