Second-in-command: Hezbollah would respond to Israeli escalation

Political party and militia’s second-in-command Naim Qassem has said that Iran-backed Hezbollah is determined not to ramp up its monthslong firefight over Lebanon’s southern border.

Hezbollah will respond in kind to any Israeli escalation, Qassem told NBC News in a rare and exclusive interview.

Qassem faulted Israel and the United States for perpetuating tit-for-tat attacks that have killed hundreds in southern Lebanon and displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The conflict started with Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7, which killed more than 1,200 people and sparked Israel’s bloody incursion into the Gaza Strip that has since killed nearly 34,000 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.

“We didn’t expect the war would last this long because we didn’t think that Netanyahu was that foolish, same for Biden and the other countries,” Qassem said, as Israel’s two-front conflict drags into its seventh month.

As Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Qassem ranks second behind the group’s revered leader, Hassan Nasrallah. 

Qassem’s comments came as Israel prepares its response to an unprecedented retaliatory Iranian missile and drone barrage against the Jewish state — an impending reprisal that would bring the Middle East closer to a region-wide war than at any time in recent memory. Israel carried out a strike inside Iran overnight, a person familiar with the situation told NBC News. Israeli officials notified US officials that a response was coming on April 18.

But the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began months before last weekend’s direct confrontation between Israel and Iran. Hezbollah is estimated to have upward of 150,000 rockets and missiles, in addition to drones and anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, according to a Reuters report, citing data from the CIA.