Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terror group, warned on Friday that a war against Iran and Syria will spread across the Middle East, NOW Lebanon is reporting.
The Hizbullah chief ruled out, however, the likelihood of an Israeli offensive on Lebanon happening in the near future.
“Unless there is a plan for waging war on the entire region, we rule out the possibility of a close [Israeli] aggression on Lebanon,” Nasrallah was quoted as having said in a televised speech on the occasion of his group’s “Martyr Day”.
Nasrallah claimed that the United States is “punishing” Iran and Syria for the changes in other regimes in the region such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
He claimed, “In order to compensate for their losses in these countries, they are [punishing] Syria and Iran,” adding that a “war on Iran and Syria will not be confined to these two states but will spread to other countries in the region.”
“We are not issuing any threats but this is the reality,” Nasrallah said. “The Islamic nations and masses should have a position [concerning these issues].”
He added, “Iran is united and strong, it has a leader who is unmatched in the world. It will react strongly [to an attack against it]!”
He commented on the developments in Syria, where President Bashar Assad is continuing the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters, and said that “those who are gambling on the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime [should] stop wasting their time.”
According to a report on Israel’s Channel 10 News, Nasrallah also addressed the latest speculations that Israel would attack Iran’s nuclear program and took advantage of the opportunity to criticize the Jewish State.
“Look at the audacity: Israel has military nuclear heads and it threatens to attack Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites,” he said. “Where do they come off? They feel that their enemies are split. The time for weakness and retreat in the face of the United States is over - now we have courage and will. Today on Martyr Day we emphasize that since the fall of the first martyr and to this day, we have been in an era of victories.”
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)