In a second address in a week, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, reiterated his party’s determination to respond to Israel’s assassination of its top commander, Fouad Shokr, in a strike on its stronghold in south Beirut, but hinted that it won’t happen anytime soon.
“Our response is coming definitely, be it alone or in synchronization with the other support fronts of the axis of resistance. It will be impactful and strong, but we need to act reasonably and prepare slowly,” Nasrallah said in the address on Tuesday, commemorating one week since Shokr’s slaying.
In a flagrant rhetoric aimed at beefing up his party’s popular base and justifying the heavy cost in human and material losses incurred by the unabating confrontations in south Lebanon, Nasrallah said: “The objective of the (Iran-backed) resistance axis is to prevent Israel’s victory which would result in the elimination of the Palestinian cause.”
He acknowledged that Israel’s double assassinations of Shokr in Beirut, and Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, was a big achievement, stressing, however, “that it was not a victory, and did not change anything in the course of the battle.”
In yet further justification of the ongoing conflict in the south, Nasrallah warned that the whole region is facing the greatest dangers ever, and that a defeat of the resistance axis would lead to Israel’s hegemony over countries of the region, thus the importance of maintaining the support fronts in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
He, however, saw no reason for Iran and Syria to be actively involved in the confrontations against Israel, stressing that their moral support and their assistance with arms and logistics is sufficient. In other words, Lebanon should pay the price of the war alone.
Nasrallah also underlined that Iran is obligated to respond to Haniyeh’s slaying in Tehran, and Yemen is bound to retaliate to Israel’s attack on the port of Hodeida.
“The decision, determination and capacities are guaranteed. Israel’s apprehension and anticipation of the response is part of the battle and the punishment,” he said, warning that the Israeli industries and factories in north Israel which are worth 130 billion dollars “could be wiped out in half an hour.”
He also played down Israel’s intention to start an open war, stating “had (Israeli Premier Benjamin) Netanyahu wanted a war he would have started it during the past 10 months.”
