BEIRUT, October 11. /TASS/. Hezbollah’s goal is to defeat Israel and force it to stop shelling attacks on southern Lebanon, Hezbollah media office head, Mohammad Afif, said.

"We are at the beginning of our battle and the enemy will not be able to advance at the southern front, despite engaging additional forces," he told a news conference in Beirut. "That is why our priority is to inflict defeat on Israel to force it to cease fire."

According to Afif, Hezbollah has used only a small part of its combat potential. He also refuted Israel’s statements that there were weapons and explosives depots in Beirut’s southern neighborhoods that came under Israeli bombardments.

He slammed the United States as an accomplice in Israel’s war crimes in Lebanon for supplying the Jewish state with weapons.

"We are committed to national unity and the overwhelming majority of the Lebanese people support resistance forces," the Hezbollah spokesman stressed.

Israel has been delivering massive airstrikes on Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon since September 23, when it launched Operation Northern Arrows. Israel’s declared goal is to create safe conditions in the country’s northern areas so that tens of thousands of local residents could return to their homes. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was reportedly killed in Israel’s strike on Beirut on September 27. In the early hours on October 1, Israel announced the launch of a ground operation in Lebanon’s border areas.