In his first speech since the start of the war, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah praised the Hamas attack on Israel – and emphasized that it was purely Palestinian-planned. He also threatened an escalation on the Lebanese border.
For the first time since the start of the war in the Middle East, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah addressed the public in a speech. In it he threatened that his Lebanese militia would become even more involved in the war. “All options are on the table,” he said. “All possibilities on our Lebanese fronts are within reach.”
A possible escalation depends on the course of the war in the Gaza Strip, but also on Israel’s behavior towards Lebanon. In the event of a regional war, US interests and soldiers – Israel’s most important ally – would be victims and biggest losers of such an escalation, Nasrallah said.
The fighting between the Hezbollah militia and the Israeli military had an impact, he said. It is a “realistic possibility” that the “Lebanese front will turn into a major battle.” “Some may perceive what is happening on our front as moderate, but we will not be satisfied with that.”
Attack “one hundred percent Palestinian” planned
The radical Islamic Hezbollah militia is supported by Iran and operates against Israel from Lebanon. Nasrallah did not specifically threaten a large-scale attack on Israel. There were international fears that the situation could escalate further if he called for a tougher approach towards Israel in his speech.
In his video message, Nasrallah expressly praised and justified the terrorist attack on Israel by the militant Islamist Hamas. The decision to deploy on October 7th was “wise, courageous and timely,” he said. The attack heralded a “new historical phase of the conflict.”
“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” was planned “100 percent Palestinian,” emphasized Nasrallah. The plans were kept secret from the “Axis of Resistance”. “The fact that no one knew about it proves that this battle is entirely Palestinian in nature.” In the attack, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing more than 1,400 people there and abducting around 240 people to the Gaza Strip.
“The USA is them “main responsible”
The United States called Nasrallah a “big devil” and accused it of bearing sole responsibility for the war. Israel is only an “executive instrument”. “The United States is the main responsible for all the massacres, from Hiroshima to Vietnam to Afghanistan,” he said. “They must pay the price for their aggression.”
In the Gaza Strip, Israel is pursuing goals that it cannot achieve, the Hezbollah chief continued. This is one of the biggest mistakes Israel is currently making. “The victory of Gaza today is also in the national interest of Egypt, Jordan and Syria,” Nasrallah. Above all, it is “in Lebanon’s national interest.”
An attempt to weaken the Iran connection?
According to the director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies, Eckart Woertz, Nasrallah’s words were not a declaration of war. “He was very concerned about portraying himself as part of a regional resistance movement,” said the scientist in an interview tagesschau24. Nasrallah therefore highlighted Hezbollah’s military contribution in this context. Goertz referred to the artillery battles and skirmishes that had taken place in recent weeks between Israel’s army and the terrorist organization. “Nasrallah has also shown that these activities have diverted Israel’s capacity away from Gaza.”
The Hezbollah Secretary General emphasized that Hamas should not be seen as a force of the Muslim Brotherhood or Iran, but as part of a regional resistance axis. From Nasrallah’s point of view, the successes of this axis of resistance in Gaza are also successes for Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. However, the Hezbollah Secretary General did not want a total escalation, according to the Middle East expert. That’s why he said in his speech that the attacks by Hamas terrorists on October 7th were purely Hamas activities. “You can also read that as saying that he tried to weaken the Iran connection somewhat.”
There are always fierce battles at the border
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, there has also been fierce fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border. There have already been fatalities on both sides. Even before Nasrallah’s speech, mutual shelling was reported again. After an anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli military post, the army bombarded the launch site in Lebanon with artillery fire, the military said. A “terror cell” had already been attacked that night. Hezbollah confirmed the attack on the Israeli military post.
The Lebanese militia is considered Iran’s most important non-state ally and significantly more powerful and influential than Hamas. It is also part of the so-called “Resistance Axis” – a front of militias whose goal is to fight Iran’s arch-enemy Israel.