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full screen Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah always gives his speeches via link from a secret location. Here in a picture from a ceremony for Iran’s deceased president Ebrahim Raisi on May 24. Photo: Bilal Hussein/AP/TT
Tensions are high between the Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel.
– An invasion (of Israel) is still on the table if the fighting escalates, says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during a speech.
The threats are sprinkled from both parties. On Tuesday, Hezbollah published video clips that are said to show, among other things, how drones photographed military infrastructure in Israel. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli military announced that an operational plan for an offensive in Lebanon had been approved.
“In a full-scale war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“No place is safe”
Now Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is responding in a twisted speech, in connection with a memorial ceremony for a high-ranking Hezbollah member who was recently killed by Israel.
– (The enemy) knows that no place is safe from our rockets, he says.
At the same time, he mentions the large arsenal of weapons that the militia has access to, and threatens that the film clip that was published on Tuesday only contains a small part of the material that the drones obtained.
Nasrallah also claims that Israel, in the event of war against Lebanon, will use airports and infrastructure in Cyprus, threatening that “the resistance will target them” in that case.
Ongoing hostilities
The fighting continued on Wednesday. According to Hezbollah, dozens of rockets have been fired at northern Israel. Several of them were shot down, according to Israel, which in turn reports that warplanes hit two Hezbollah targets in different locations in southern Lebanon.
State Lebanese media reports on several Israeli attacks on villages in the southern parts of the country. According to Hezbollah, four fighters have been killed during the day.
Assessors have long warned that the risk of the Gaza war expanding into a full-scale, regional war with more actors could take place at the tightly contested border area between Lebanon and Israel. There, Hezbollah and Israel’s military have exchanged fire almost daily since October 7.