The Hezbollah leader has promised a fight without rules or red lines if all-out war breaks out between the Lebanese militant group and Israel, warning Cyprus against becoming mired in conflict.
Lebanon and Israel have regularly exchanged cross-border fire since the start of the Jewish state’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas – which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran – in the Gaza Strip. The exchange of fire has intensified since an Israeli airstrike last week killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Taleb Sami Abdullah, and three other members of the group.
In a televised speech at the official’s memorial ceremony on Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said: “Israel knows very well that no place will be safe from our missiles and drones” in case of war between neighboring states, according to comments broadcast by the Hezbollah-aligned al-Manar TV news channel.
He added that Hezbollah had now “obtained new weapons”, but gave no further details. The group often uses Burkan rockets, anti-tank missiles and heavy-warhead rockets, which are modeled after Iran’s Ababil drones, according to Seth Frantzman, a research associate at the U.S.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s numbers have now “well exceeded 100,000 fighters,” after first saying they would reach that threshold in 2021, according to the Associated Press. The secretive nature of the group – which wields considerable political, military and social influence in Lebanon – makes it difficult to verify the figures. Lebanon’s official military forces are estimated to number around 80,000, according to data portal IndexMundi.
The Hezbollah leader also threatened war against the Mediterranean island of Cyprus if the European Union member allows Israel to launch military operations from its territory. Nasrallah accused Israel of “carrying out maneuvers for the Lebanese war” in Cyprus, without revealing his sources.
“I say that the Cypriot government must be careful because opening airports to the enemy to attack Lebanon means that Cyprus is part of the war and we will deal with it within the framework of the war,” Nasrallah was quoted as saying by al- Manar. a Google translation.
Cyprus has denied the accusations, but it has stepped up defense cooperation and participated in joint military exercises with Israel as recently as May 2023.
In response to Nasrallah, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides stressed on Wednesday that his country is not involved in the conflict and is in fact part of the solution, according to the Cypriot News Agency.
CNBC contacted the Cypriot Foreign Ministry to inquire whether Cypriot sites are being used for Israeli military activities.
A man waves a flag of the Hezbollah movement as its leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech in Kherbet Selm, southern Lebanon, January 14, 2024, marking the week of commemoration since the assassination of commander-in-chief Wissam Tawil.
Mahmoud Zayyat | Afp | Getty Images
Nasrallah’s speech fans the flames of increasingly fiery rhetoric over the past week, as increased missile exchanges between Israel and Lebanon raise fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Hezbollah released a video, allegedly captured by its surveillance drones, showing military sites in the Israeli port of Haifa. In response, the Israeli military said Tuesday that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon have been approved and validated, and decisions have been made on continuing to strengthen the readiness of troops on the ground.” without detailing the scale of the initiative or whether it would involve deploying troops across the border.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also warned that his country was now “very close to the moment of the decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon.”
US efforts to ease the conflict and strengthen its peace framework for the Gaza enclave have so far proved futile, with senior White House envoy Amos Hochstein meeting with Israel’s leaders and Lebanon at the start of the week.
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