Nasrallah says Hezbollah doesn't fear war, no talks before Gaza war ends
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed Sunday that Hezbollah does not not fear war or U.S. and Israeli threats, while emphasizing that his group will not negotiate over the situation on the border before the end of Israel’s war on Gaza.
“We will continue and our front is inflicting defeats on the enemy,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating Hezbollah senior military commander Wissam Tawil, who was assassinated by Israel on Monday.
“The new language today (by the Americans) is that if we do not stop, the Israelis will wage a war on Lebanon, and I say that this intimidation is of no use,” Nasrallah added.
Referring to the Israeli battalions that have been pulled out of Gaza for rest, Nasrallah said: “They (Americans) are threatening us with the tired and scared battalions that were in northern Gaza. They are welcome (to come to the front with Lebanon).”
“Those who should fear war and be scared of it are Israel and the enemy’s government and settlers,” Nasrallah underlined.
“We have been ready for war for the past 99 days and we do not fear it. We will fight in it without a ceiling and without any restrictions or limits,” Hezbollah’s leader warned.
“The Americans who present themselves as being keen on Lebanon must fear for their base Israel,” he added.
“Our stance is that the Lebanon front has been for supporting and assisting Gaza and its objective is halting the aggression against Gaza. Let the aggression against Gaza stop and then talks related to Lebanon will be possible,” Nasrallah went on to say.
A U.S. envoy said Thursday both Lebanon and Israel "prefer" a diplomatic deal to end hostilities on the border, where Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged fire since the Gaza war began.
"We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in south Lebanon... as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north," the envoy, Amos Hochstein, told reporters in Beirut.
After a visit to Israel, Hochstein on Thursday met top Lebanese officials in Beirut, amid fears that the Israel-Hamas war since early October could spread across the region.
The deadly violence along the Lebanon-Israel border has already displaced tens of thousands of civilians on either side of the frontier.
"We're living in a crisis moment where we would like to see a diplomatic solution and I believe that both sides prefer a diplomatic solution," the U.S. envoy said, adding: "It's our job to get one".
Last week, Nasrallah hailed "a historic opportunity" to help Lebanon regain control of disputed border land through diplomacy, "after this phase (of fighting) ends and after the aggression on Gaza."
The same day, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his government "prefers a diplomatic path over a military one," but warned: "We are close to the point of the hour glass turning over."
Escalating tensions have prompted a succession of Western diplomats to converge on Beirut to urge restraint and discuss potential solutions to avoid Lebanon being dragged into war.
More than three months of cross-border violence have killed 190 people in Lebanon, including more than 140 Hezbollah fighters and over 20 civilians including three journalists. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli figures.
Source: Naharnet
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