Hezbollah says not after war, but not afraid of one either

Hezbollah’s secretary-general says the Lebanese resistance movement does not pursue war, but is not afraid of one either since it is certain about its chances of victory.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks in a televised speech on Saturday, speaking on the anniversary of the movement’s victory against the Israeli regime during the war that the latter imposed on Lebanon in 2006.

The Hezbollah leader made a point of underlining the group’s readiness and prowess as well as its well-equipped arsenal in light of a recent dangerous escalation that was tempted by the regime’s military against Lebanon.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military took an area in southern Lebanon under airstrikes after launching heavy artillery attack aimed again at the country’s south in response to alleged rocket fire.

Israel conducts airstrikes against southern Lebanon

The Israeli regime takes an area in southern Lebanon under airstrikes after alleged rocket attack.

On Friday, Hezbollah announced in a statement that its units hit “open fields” near Israeli positions at 11:15 a.m. local time (0815 GMT), using “dozens” of 122mm-caliber rockets. Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network said at least 20 rockets were fired at the regime's military positions. 

“We are not after war. It was not us, who staged aggression [in the first place]. However, we are ready and are not afraid of war,” Nasrallah asserted.

“We are prepared every moment, and are certain that we will triumph in [any] warfare,” he added.

‘Heavy response awaits Israel’

Nasrallah described the Friday retaliation as only a fraction of what Hezbollah is capable of carrying out, saying the group had a reliable array of defensive choices at its disposal in case of a conflict.

“Therefore, if the Zionist regime perpetrates any act of folly, it will face a heavy response,” he stated.

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Overarching warning

Nasrallah even threatened the regime against “attacking farmers and civilians in northern Palestine,” and said the movement would “contemplate in due course if it wanted to retaliate against the regime’s attacks on [Syria’s] occupied Golan Heights.

The regime had thought that its attacks would enfeeble the region’s Islamic resistance movements, but now the resistance has improved the “capability and quality of its missiles,” he stated.

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Beirut blast

Nasrallah also addressed ongoing attempts at implicating the group in last year’s hugely deadly blast that hit Beirut’s port.

He reminded how the event’s immediate aftermath saw various sides starting a process of “political score-settling” to target the group. The Hezbollah leader also noted how the United States and Saudi Arabia tried to use the event to get political mileage out of their previous attempts at tarnishing the movement.

However, no single piece of evidence was found that could help blame the group for the disaster, Nasrallah noted.

He also described as “most risible and heinous,” attempts that had been made by some to accuse the group of storing away ammonium nitrate at the port after their initial efforts to incriminate the movement failed.

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