Hezbollah chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a major escalation on Israel’s border with Lebanon, announcing that the the Jewish state is “now on more than one front” while making a threat to American warships.
Hassan Nasrallah praised the Alaqsa Flood, the name given for Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel last month, saying it was a ‘glorious jihadi operation’ that had led to an ‘earthquake’ in the Jewish state.
He said the escalation depends on the events in Gaza and Israel’s actions.
“For a whole month, Israel could not offer a single military achievement,” Nasrallah said, adding that Israel can only get back hostages through negotiation.
This was the leader’s first speech since the October 7 massacre, which raised fears Hamas is about to enter a larger conflict.
Celebratory gunshots rang out as people waved Hezbollah’s yellow flag while the leader addressed thousands in Beirut from an unknown location.
He called the war in Gaza ‘decisive’ and said there were two goals: to stop aggression against Gaza and to ensure victory for Hamas.
Nasrallah went on to claim his terror group had ‘entered the battle on October 8.’
“Some claim we are about to engage in the war. I am telling you, we have been engaged in this war and battle since October. The Islamic resistance and Lebanon started operations the very next day,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, he thanked the “Iraqi, Yemeni hands that joined this battle” and celebrated pro-Palestinian protests.
“We must salute all those who took to the street in support and solidarity with the Palestinians from all over the world,” he said.
Nasrallah also thanked ‘martyrs’ killed along the border.
“Those fallen martyrs are alive in God’s paradise,” he said.
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Thousands of people have turned up at Tehran's Imam Hussain (as) Square to listen to the much-awaited speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. pic.twitter.com/2WMqFIUtVz
— Palestine Highlights (@PalHighlight) November 3, 2023
Nasrallah insisted the decision to launch the attack was ‘100 percent Palestinian’ and that those responsible had kept it secret from everyone. He said the decision to keep it a secret did not upset anyone in what he called the ‘axis of resistance.’
He added that the on-going conflict is purely a Palestinian issue, and has no relation to any regional issue, and denied any Hezbollah involvement in the attack.
“This glorious, blessed large-scale operation [is] a hundred percent Palestinian in terms of decision and execution,” he said. “The Palestinians had kept it secret.”
Turning to the United States, Nasrallah said America was ‘entirely responsible’ for the Hamas attack, and said groups in Iraq and Syria were ‘wise’ to attack US bases, and said the Islamic Resistance in Iraq was starting to ‘take its responsibility.’
Responding to the US suggesting it would strike Hezbollah targets from two American warships stationed in the Mediterranean should the group get involved in the war, he said the ships did not scare Hezbollah.
“We are well prepared for US warships as well,” the Hezbollah chief said.
With his speech, Nasrallah broke weeks of silence since war broke out between Hamas and Israel following the October 7 terror attack.
Since then, Lebanon’s southern border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah – raising fears that the conflict could spread in the Middle East.
The leader described the clashes across the border as unprecedented since 1948, the year that Israel was founded, and of the Arab-Israeli war.
The terror group, like Hamas, is backed by Iran, and clashes across Israel’s northern border are stoking fears of a broader conflagration of the ongoing war.
