Lebanon’s Militant Hezbollah Leader Took a Jibe at Israel in his First Speech after the start of the Israel-Hamas War

Lebanon’s Militant Hezbollah Leader Took a Jibe at Israel in his First Speech after the start of the Israel-Hamas War

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah leader took a jab at Israel in his first speech after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group is speaking for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group cheer as Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah appears via a video link during a rally in Beirut to commemorate Hezbollah fighters killed fighting against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon over the past few weeks. Waved fists and celebrated in Lebanon on Friday, November 3, 2023. Nasrallah’s speech was widely expected across the region as a question of whether the Israel-Hamas conflict would escalate into a regional war. (AP Photo/Hussain Malla).

Supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group cheer as Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah appears via a video link during a rally in Beirut to commemorate Hezbollah fighters killed fighting against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon over the past few weeks. Waved fists and celebrated. , Lebanon, Friday, November 3, 2023. Nasrallah’s speech was widely expected across the region as a question whether the Israel-Hamas conflict would escalate into a regional war. (AP Photo/Hussain Malla).

Associated Press BEIRUT – Celebratory gunfire rang out Friday as thousands of people gathered at a square in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital to watch Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group, deliver a televised speech.

Nasrallah taunted Israel in his comments, which were broadcast via a video-link. It was his first address to supporters since the Israel-Hamas war that began following a deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian militants in southern Israel.

The speech came a day after the most significant escalation in clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along the Israel-Lebanon border since the war began – and on the same day as a visit by the top US diplomat to Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge protection of civilians in the fighting with Hamas, as Israeli troops tightened their siege of Gaza City.

In his lengthy remarks, Nasrallah praised the Hamas offensive four weeks ago, in which militants attacked farming villages, towns and military posts in southern Israel. More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel in this attack.

“This great, large-scale operation was the result of entirely Palestinian planning and implementation,” Nasrallah said, adding that his militia had no part in the attack. “Great secrecy made this operation quite successful.”

He also said that October 7 was “proof that Israel is weaker than a spider’s web” and that even after a month of war it had reportedly “not achieved anything.”

Nasrallah also criticized strong US support for Israel in the bombing of Gaza, which killed more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians. While US officials have made a greater public push in recent days to protect civilians in Gaza, they have not yet called for a ceasefire.

The Hezbollah leader said President Joe Biden had “bogusly argued that Hamas had beheaded children (without evidence), but remained silent about the thousands of children in Gaza who were beheaded and dismembered by Israeli bombardment.”Were separated”.

Nasrallah’s speech was widely expected across the region as a question of whether the Israel-Hamas conflict would escalate into a regional war.

Hamas leaders have been pressuring Hezbollah to increase its involvement, sometimes publicly. Nasrallah met with senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri and Ziad Nakhleh of sister group Islamic Jihad in Beirut last week.

Although Hezbollah officials have avoided publicly laying out a specific red line, they have stated vaguely that they would engage in war if they saw that Hamas was on the verge of defeat.

Since the beginning of the war, Hamas ally Hezbollah had taken deliberate steps to engage Israel’s forces along its border with Lebanon, but not to the point of provoking an all-out war.

The Israeli military said that as of Friday, seven of its soldiers and one civilian had been killed along the northern border. More than 50 Hezbollah fighters and 10 militants from allied groups, as well as 10 civilians, including a Reuters journalist, have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border.

Israel views the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia militant group as its most serious immediate threat, estimating that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles targeting Israel, as well as drones and surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles. There are missiles too.

But a full-scale conflict would also be costly for Hezbollah, which fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw — but not before Israeli bombardment reduced southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs. Had done it. debris.

A new all-out war would also displace thousands of Hezbollah supporters and cause widespread damage at a time when Lebanon is in the grip of a historic four-year economic recession.

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