Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon was meant to create new Middle East: Nasrallah

The secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says the Israeli military’s 33-day war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 was aimed at creation of a new Middle East region, where the Tel Aviv regime would have performed the leading role.

“The Israeli military was simply a tool in the 2006 war against Lebanon, as the military campaign had been orchestrated by the United States. Among the objectives of the war were putting an end to the presence of (Hezbollah) resistance (movement) in Lebanon, toppling the Syrian government, and defeating Iran in the region,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stated in a televised speech broadcast live from the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil on Friday evening. 

He added that American officials, by launching the 33-day war on Lebanon, had wished to form a new Middle East, where the Israeli regime would have been in the saddle, controlling everything.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Lebanese nation and Hezbollah resistance movement proved to the world that Israel can be defeated.

"In that war, John Bolton, then the US ambassador to the UN Security Council, told an Arab official: 'The war will stop only if Hezbollah is crushed or it surrenders.'"

"But Bolton later told the same Arab official: 'We have to stop the war now.'" 

“The Arab official asked him: Did you crush Hezbollah? He said no. The Arab official asked: Did Hezbollah surrender? He said no. the Arab official said: So why did you stop the war?! Bolton said: Israel would face a catastrophe if the war continues,” the Hezbollah chief said.

“American and Israeli officials failed to attain any of their goals (in the 33-day war),” Nasrallah said, describing Hezbollah as a deterrent force against US and Israeli acts of aggression in the region.

The Hezbollah chief noted that Lebanon could emerge victorious in the war because it held on to the golden equation of people, army and the anti-Israel resistance front.

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A Lebanese lawmaker says the Hezbollah resistance movement will teach Israel a lesson should it wage a new war on Lebanon.

Nasrallah then warned Israeli officials against launching a new military aggression against his country, stressing that all Israeli battalions will be destroyed under the eyes of mainstream media.

“Israeli military experts acknowledge that the Israeli army is incapable of waging a fresh war on Lebanon,” he said.

The Hezbollah secretary general went on to say that the resistance front is gaining momentum across the Middle East, and now covers a vast expanse of land from Lebanon to Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq and Iran.

“Reliance on the resistance front will prevent war, acts of aggression as well as terrorism. Being part of such an axis will prevent (US President Donald) Trump’s exploitation as he is now milking (Persian) Gulf countries,” Nasrallah stated.

He also lauded Palestinians’ outright rejection of Trump’s controversial proposal for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, dubbed “the deal of the century.”

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A senior Hamas official says Palestinian people are united in their rejection of the so-called deal of the century.

“Look at daily operations being carried out by Palestinians against Israel in the occupied territories. They are done by young people who are not older than 15. This is the new Palestinian generation,” Nasrallah said.

‘A war on Iran would mean the whole region will be set ablaze’

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Hezbollah chief described Iran as a “major regional superpower,” stating that the rhetoric and threats of a war against the Islamic Republic have ebbed because Trump came to realize that Iran is not an easy target.

“War against Iran means the entire region will be set on fire,” Nasrallah underlined.

He stated that Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps lawfully captured British oil tanker Stena Impero for breaching international maritime law while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on July 19, and shot down an intruding US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone in the skies over the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan on June 20.

PressTV-Iran’s IRGC shoots down intruding US spy drone

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps shoots down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

"Iran has proved its strength and showed that it does not accept to be threatened… I assure that a war on Iran is a war on the resistance front in the entire region."

"All enemies’ efforts to topple the resistance front in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran have failed. As Imam Khomeini [the late founder of the Islamic Republic] said the price of the resistance is much lower than the price of submission. Hezbollah, which they wanted to destroy, is now a regional power," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah also highlighted that Hezbollah does not intend to remove any one from the political arena in Lebanon, calling on politicians and people from all walks of the Lebanese society to join forces and address lingering corruption in the country.

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