BEIRUT, July 18: Raad is born — not the long-range missile which Hezbollah is firing at Israel but a Lebanese baby boy whose mother wants to honour the militant group’s showdown with the Jewish state.

After a difficult Caesarean delivery, Kawkab al-Akli gave birth to a boy at the Labib medical hospital in the southern coastal city of Sidon, her husband Mohammed al-Khaled said.

“We had sought refuge at a school in Sidon after running away from our village of Marwahine in the south because a lot of people were killed in Israeli attacks,” he said.

“This morning, my wife gave birth to a boy. She wanted to name him Raad to honour the resistance, Hezbollah and (its leader) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” he said.

Hezbollah has since last week for the first time allegedly fired Iranian-made Raad missiles, extending the reach of the militant group up to the northern Israeli city of Haifa. —AFP