Tens of thousands of fighters ready to battle Israel - Hezbollah issues warning after confirmation of Trump's win

Hezbollah militant group said Wednesday, November 7, that tens of thousands of its militants were ready to fight Israel, adding that the US election result would have no effect on the war in Lebanon.

The Iran-backed group's leader also warned that nowhere in Israel would be "off-limits" to attacks, as the Israeli military said about 120 projectiles had been fired across the border into Israeli territory on Wednesday.

The Israeli military struck Hezbollah's main bastion of south Beirut after issuing an evacuation warning.

Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since late September, when the Israeli military decided to move its war focus from Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon.

Israel's shift in military focus came after Hezbollah began launching low-intensity cross-border attacks on Israel last year, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack.

Efforts to end the war in Gaza that was sparked by the Hamas attack have yet to bear fruit, and the war in Lebanon has killed nearly 2,000 people, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.

"We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants" ready to fight, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech marking 40 days since his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a strike.

The address by Hezbollah was aired after Donald Trump's victory in the US election was announced but had been recorded earlier.