Nasrallah warns Cyprus against opening bases to Israel if war erupts

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday threatened the nearby island of Cyprus if it opened its airports and bases to Israel in the event of total war with Hezbollah.

"Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war," Nasrallah warned in a televised address commemorating slain Hezbollah commander Taleb Abdallah.

Cyprus has good relations with both Israel and Lebanon, and lies close to the coast of both countries.

Nasrallah also warned that "no place" in Israel would be spared from the group’s weapons in case of a full-blown war, after Israel said operational plans for a Lebanon offensive had been approved.

"The enemy knows well that we have prepared ourselves for the worst... and that no place... will be spared our rockets," Nasrallah said. Israel must "wait for us on land, by sea and by air," he added, warning that Hezbollah will fight “without restrictions.”

“The enemy knows that what also awaits it in the Mediterranean Sea is very huge, seeing as all its coasts and ships will be targeted,” Nasrallah went on to say.

“Threatening us with war on Lebanon does not scare us, we have prepared ourselves for the most difficult of days and the enemy knows well what awaits it,” Nasrallah said.

Noting that Israel’s strikes in Syria have failed to prevent Hezbollah from bringing weapons from Iran, Nasrallah added: “We have a large number of new weapons and drones and we're manufacturing some types of rockets in Lebanon.”

“The resistance's manpower is unprecedented,” he said.

Commenting on the footage published Tuesday by Hezbollah which the group said was taken by drones that overflew northern Israel and its strategic Haifa region, Nasrallah said: “We have long hours of footage of Haifa, what's around it, what's before it, what's beyond it and what's even further.”

And noting that “the Lebanese front has performed a very big role and is inflicting moral, material and psychological losses on the enemy,” Nasrallah said his group’s invasion of Israel’s Galilee region “remains an option should war erupt.”

Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and Israel have been trading near-daily fire since the Gaza war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned Hezbollah on Tuesday that it would be destroyed in the event of a "total war" between the two.

The clashes have killed at least 478 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 93 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in Israel's north.