Hezbollah leader Said Hassan Nasrallah warned of a war “without rules or limits” if Israel launches an all-out attack against Lebanese militias, and threatened that Cyprus could become a target if it allows Israel to use its territory in the conflict.
Cyprus and Israel have a bilateral defense cooperation agreement and the two countries conduct joint military exercises.
“Opening Cyprus airports and bases to Israel’s enemies targeting Lebanon means that the Cypriot government will become part of the war and the resistance will treat it as part of the war,” the Hezbollah leader said.
The island’s President, Nikos Christodoulides, responded on Wednesday evening, saying “Cyprus does not engage in any military conflict and sees itself as part of the solution, not the problem.”
He sought to highlight the humanitarian role the EU’s easternmost country has played in the Middle East, facilitating the opening of a sea route to transport badly needed aid to Gaza.
“Our humanitarian corridor is a testament to our commitment to peace and stability,” he told reporters at a graduation ceremony at the University of Cyprus. “Cyprus is not part of the problem, it is part of the solution. … Such statements are offensive, but they do not reflect reality. Cyprus is not taking part in any military engagement.”
Christodoulidis added that the threat would be raised through diplomatic channels.
Nasrallah’s comments came a day after Israeli military officers said they had approved plans for a larger attack on Hezbollah, and Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz suggested the country was on the brink of deciding whether to escalate the war.
Speaking at a memorial for Taleb Sami Abdallah, a top Hezbollah official killed by Israel since the two countries began cross-border exchanges on October 8, Nasrallah argued that Hezbollah’s role was to support Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that it had succeeded in stalling Israeli forces in the north of the country.
Nasrallah spoke of a strategy of limited conflict with Israel, short of all-out war and aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza, but his rhetoric became more heated when he said no part of Israel was safe from Hezbollah attacks.
Nasrallah’s televised speech highlighted the difficulties of diplomatic efforts to defuse the conflict as it slides into increasingly dangerous territory.
“We have more than 100,000 fighters, even more than that in the worst-case scenario. We are preparing for the worst-case scenario and Israel knows it,” he said.
Referring to Hezbollah’s intelligence gathering, dramatized by the broadcast of drone surveillance footage of Haifa on Tuesday, Nasrallah said, “Since October 8, the enemy has understood that certain locations will be targets,” adding that the militia had hours of surveillance footage of Haifa.
“The robot knows we have information about these places,” he said.
“In 2006 [during the second Lebanese war]”Once upon a time, we had the ambition to bomb the Israeli base on Mount Meron. Today, we simply order our fighters to do it, and they do it instantly.”
“Whatever our intentions,” he continued, “whether we want an all-out war or not, the enemy is obliged to maintain a state of readiness in the north of the country,” adding that the Israeli threat “had no impact” on Hezbollah’s calculations.
Hezbollah said three Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon on Wednesday before Nasrallah’s speech, as a U.S. envoy tasked with averting a devastating regional war returned to Israel after meeting with Lebanese officials.
One of the Israeli airstrikes landed 20 miles from the border near the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre, which has taken refuge for many Lebanese who fled areas near the border.
On the Israeli side of the Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at a military base near the town of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday afternoon, starting several fires.
Fears of a broader war between Israel and Hezbollah have been growing since Israel killed Abdallah last week, with Hezbollah retaliating by firing hundreds of projectiles, including drones and rockets, into Israel in the fiercest barrage of the recent conflict.
Hopes that the violence might at least temporarily subside were dashed by Hezbollah’s release of surveillance drone footage taken over the city of Haifa, which prompted threats of “all-out war” by the Israeli foreign minister and announcements that IDF generals had approved plans to attack Lebanon.
Meanwhile, satellite imagery and data collected by regional authorities in southern Lebanon suggest damage from the conflict is widespread and growing, with 1,700 homes completely destroyed and 14,000 partially damaged.
Nasrallah delivered the speech as Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, returned to Israel after meetings in Lebanon on Tuesday.
There were no signs of progress in efforts to calm the fighting amid warnings that escalation into all-out war could lead to regional conflict.
As Israel’s assault on Gaza enters its ninth month, international criticism of U.S. support for Israel’s air and ground attacks has grown steadily.
The UN’s top court has concluded there is a “risk of genocide” in the Gaza Strip, a claim strongly denied by Israel, which blames Hamas for civilian deaths and says extremists are active among the population.
Israeli air strikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants rocked the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the Israel Defense Forces warned it was preparing an “attack” against Hezbollah.
Witnesses and Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that Israeli forces bombed western Rafah. Medical sources said drone attacks and artillery fire killed at least seven people.
