Hezbollah reserves the right to respond to Israel's assassination of its chief of staff "at a time of our choosing", the Lebanese militant group's leader Naim Qassem said on Friday.
Hezbollah officials had previously described Haitham Ali Tabatabai's assassination on November 23 as Israel crossing a "red line".
A founding member of the militant group, Tabatabai, 57, was killed in an Israeli strike on a densely populated district of Lebanon's capital Beirut.
He became the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the start of a ceasefire in November 2024, aimed at ending more than a year of hostilities between the two sides.
The truce, however, has been largely one-sided. Israel has continued launching daily strikes on Lebanon, saying it is attacking Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure, while maintaining a military occupation of at least five points inside Lebanese territory. Hezbollah has refrained from retaliating.
Despite the continuing Israeli attacks, Mr Qassem hailed the ceasefire as a “victory” for Hezbollah and Lebanon, saying the group had prevented Israel from “achieving its goals, foremost among them eliminating the resistance”.
Since the ceasefire, Israel and the US have pressed for Hezbollah's complete disarmament - a demand the group has said will be fulfilled on condition of Israel's full withdrawal from Lebanon.
Hezbollah has so far agreed to disarm south of Lebanon's Litani river.
"The enemy did everything in its power to end the resistance, but it failed," Mr Qassem said.
He said his group had prepared a message for Pope Leo XIV, who will be visiting Lebanon from November 30 to December 2.
"We welcome the Pope's visit to Lebanon," Mr Qassem said. "We hope that his visit will contribute to establishing peace and ending the aggression."
