Hezbollah declares readiness for ‘open war’ with Israel amid escalation: expert

Hezbollah escalated its involvement in the widening conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel on Tuesday, launching long-range missiles From Lebanon Within 48 hours of coordinated strikes on Iran amid Operation Epic Fury.

The armed group also announced that it was ready for “open war.” Associated Press I mentioned.

The Iranian-backed armed group fired rockets at northern Israel, prompting Israel to retaliate, according to Reuters. The Times of Israel. The army said that air defenses intercepted two aircraft.

He added, “Hezbollah is doing everything it has to fight in order to increase the challenges that Israel will face in this war.” Ross HarrisonA senior fellow at the Middle East Institute told Fox News Digital.

Rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel as seen from the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, following the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel. (Reuters/Gil Eliyahu)

“But Hezbollah also knows that if the Iranian regime falls, it may disintegrate,” he added, before highlighting that “Israel cannot completely disarm Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s with Iranian support during Lebanon’s civil war and has grown to become Tehran’s most powerful proxy.

For decades, Iran has funded, armed and trained the group as part of its broader strategy to confront Israel and expand its regional influence.

Harrison warned, “Iran believes it has to rebuild its deterrence force before the end of this war with the United States and Israel, so expanding it by using Hezbollah and attacking the Gulf Arab states and Cyprus is part of this.”

Israel responded to Hezbollah’s escalation with additional air strikes on Beirut and expanded its ground operations, with the Israel Defense Forces taking up positions near the border.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon reported that it saw Israeli forces entering and exiting Lebanese territory, despite the Israeli military’s insistence that its forces continue to operate there, according to the Associated Press.

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Hezbollah fired long-range missiles from Lebanon into northern Israel within 48 hours of strikes on Iran, escalating the widening conflict amid Operation Epic Fury. (Hadi Mezban/AFP)

The US Embassy in Beirut also announced on Tuesday that it would close its doors until further notice in a post on the X website.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said: “To prevent the possibility of direct fire on Israeli communities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu It allowed the IDF to advance and control additional dominant areas in Lebanon and defend border communities from there.

Katz added, “The IDF continues to operate forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The terrorist organization is paying and will pay a heavy price for firing toward Israel.”

“Hezbollah, this is an octopus. The head of the octopus is In Iran. “Weapons are scattered throughout the area,” IDF spokesman Evi Devrin told Fox News Digital.

“Last night, they fired Rockets on Haifato the city center in Israel. “They started it, and they knew the consequences of it,” Defrin said Tuesday.

The Israeli army also announced that it had killed Daoud Alizadeh, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, in Tehran.

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Iran is rebuilding its relations with Hezbollah while Trump gives a 10-15 day deadline. (Fadel Itani/Nour Photo via Getty Images)

The Quds Force serves as a key link between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah’s leadership, facilitating the transfer of advanced weapons and bolstering the agency’s firepower.

Harrison explained, “The Quds Force is the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is responsible for Iran’s relations with the militias allied with it, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen.”

He added, “The Quds Force is the rapid intervention force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and it aims to give Iran strategic depth.”

“They are (or were) important in managing Iran’s relations with shadowy militia organizations, and these have been challenged over the past two years with the decline of Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Saturday, US-Israeli air campaign It also targeted Iranian leadership in Tehran, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali KhameneiThis dramatically escalated tensions across the Middle East and sparked regional retaliation.

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. (Getty Images)

An interim leadership council comprising President Masoud Pezeshkian, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, and Ayatollah Ali Reza Arfi is temporarily in charge of Iran, as the de facto head of state.

“If Iran ends the war prematurely, they believe the United States and Israel can come back later,” Harrison said.

He added, “If they step up, they have a chance to re-create deterrence. It’s a big risk, because it could lead to their downfall. But the risk is that they feel they have no choice but that Hezbollah is part of this for Iran.”

“If the Iranian regime can hold on, it will win,” he said. “However, Iran cannot win militarily, but if they can deny the United States victory, they will win.”

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“Basically, the Iranian regime is trying to increase the pain of both Israel and the Gulf Arab states so that they can rebuild the deterrence lost since the June 2025 war,” Harrison said.

He added, “Attacking civilian areas and economic pain points alongside Hezbollah is also part of this strategy.”

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

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