Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah leader threatens escalation with Israel as its war with Hamas rages on

By ABBY SEWELL
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says his powerful militia is engaged in unprecedented cross-border fighting with Israel along the Lebanon-Israel border and is threatening a further escalation as the four-week-long Israel-Hamas war rages on. Nasrallah spoke in televised remarks on Friday, his first since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the Palestinian militants’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. But he stopped short of announcing that his Lebanese militia would fully enter the conflict. Nasrallah also said Hezbollah, an ally of Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers, is not deterred by U.S. warnings to stay out of the war. He declared that Hezbollah is prepared for all options and “can resort to them at any time.”