The leader of Hezbollah has promised a fight “without rules and without red lines” if the Lebanese militant group and Israel escalate into open war, and warned Cyprus against being drawn into the conflict.
Since the beginning of the Jewish state's war against the Palestinian terror group Hamas within the Gaza Strip – which, like Hezbollah, is supported by Iran – Lebanon and Israel have been engaged in regular cross-border firefights. The firefights have intensified since an Israeli airstrike last week that killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Taleb Sami Abdullah, and three other members of the group.
In a televised speech on the official's memorial ceremony on Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said: “Israel knows very well that in the event of a war between neighboring states, no place will be safe from our missiles and drones.” According to comments by the Hezbollah-allied news channel al-Manar.
He added that Hezbollah had now “received new weapons,” but gave no further details. The group often uses rockets, anti-tank missiles and Burkan-type heavy-warhead missiles, that are modeled on Iran's Ababil drones. by Seth FrantzmanAssociate Scientist on the US-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Nasrallah said that Hezbollah’s numbers had now increased “well over 100,000 fighters,” after initially declaring that they would reach this threshold in 2021, According to Associated PressThe secretive nature of the group – which has considerable political, military and social influence in Lebanon – makes the numbers difficult to verify. Lebanon's official armed forces are estimated to number around 80,000 men. according to data portal IndexMundi.
The Hezbollah leader also threatened war against the Mediterranean island of Cyprus if the EU member allowed Israel to conduct military operations from its territory. Nasrallah accused Israel of conducting “maneuvers in preparation for the Lebanon war” in Cyprus, without revealing his sources.
“I say that the Cypriot government should be careful because opening airports to the enemy to attack Lebanon implies that Cyprus is an element of the war and we are going to treat it as a part of the war,” Al-Manar quoted Nasrallah as sayingbased on a Google translation.
Cyprus has denied the allegations, but increased defence cooperation And took part in joint military exercises with Israel only in May 2023.
In response to Nasrallah, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides stressed on Wednesday that his country was not involved in the conflict and was rather part of the solution. According to the Cypriot news agency.
CNBC has reached out to the Cypriot Foreign Ministry for comment on whether Cypriot sites are being used for Israeli military activities.
Nasrallah's speech adds fuel to the increasingly heated rhetoric of the past week, while the increase in missile trade between Israel and Lebanon raises fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Hezbollah released a video purportedly taken by its surveillance drones showing military installations in the Israeli port city of Haifa. In response, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon have been approved and confirmed and decisions have been made on further increasing the readiness of troops on the bottom,” without explaining the scope of the initiative or whether it would involve deploying troops across the border.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also warned that his country is now “very near the moment of deciding to alter the foundations towards Hezbollah and Lebanon”.
US efforts to contain the conflict and advance its peace plan for the Gaza enclave have up to now been in vain, with senior White House envoy Amos Hochstein meeting with politicians in Israel and Lebanon earlier this week.
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