In addition to threatening EU member Cyprus for the first time, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah declared on Wednesday that no place in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war broke out between the two enemies.
For over eight months, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging gunfire in tandem with the Gaza conflict. The group supported by Iran released what it claimed to be drone footage of secret military locations located deep within Israeli territory on Tuesday.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, declared in a televised speech on Wednesday that “there will be no place safe from our missiles and our drones” in Israel in the case of a larger conflict.
According to him, the gang also possessed “a bank of targets” that it could use for precise attacks.
Israel is aware of the vastness of what lies ahead in the Mediterranean. It understands that it must now wait for us on land, in the air, and at sea in the face of a conflict this size, Nasrallah continued.
Israel’s military declared that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated” on Tuesday, and Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had issued a warning that a decision about an all-out war with Hezbollah was imminent.
Additionally, Nasrallah issued a threat to Cyprus, the EU member state that is closest to Lebanon and enjoys friendly relations, charging it with permitting Israel to utilize its bases and airports for military drills.
“The Cypriot government must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means that the Cypriot government has become part of the war and the resistance [Hezbollah] will deal with it as part of the war,” Nasrallah stated.
Cyprus denies taking sides
Cyprus’s President, Nikos Christodoulides, refuted any insinuation that his country was siding with one party over another.
“It [Cyprus] is not part of the problem, it is part of the solution,” he stated.
Referring to aid supplies from Cyprus to Gaza, he said, “That role is evident, for example, through the humanitarian [aid] corridor which has been acknowledged not only by the Arab world, but from the international community,”
Cyprus is not known to provide the Israeli military with any land or base facilities, but it has previously permitted Israel to conduct sporadic air maneuvers within its expansive airspace, which is known as its flight information region, but never during hostilities.
The United Kingdom has already used its sovereign military bases in Cyprus for operations in Yemen and Syria. The government of Cyprus is powerless to intervene. Cyprus, a British colony until 1960, is home to two bases.
In the case of a wider conflict, Nasrallah declared that his organization would fight with “no rules” and “no ceilings”. He was giving a speech at a memorial service for a commander who was killed by an Israeli strike last week. This commander was the highest ranking Hezbollah official to die in the ongoing war with Israel.
In response, Hezbollah launched its biggest barrage of missiles and drones at Israel. Concerned about the development, UN representatives dispatched US ambassador Amos Hochstein to Israel and Lebanon, urging both parties to avoid escalating into a full-scale battle.
During their 2006 conflict, Hezbollah struck an Israeli warship in the Mediterranean, demonstrating its ability to strike a vessel at sea.
Hezbollah reportedly obtained Russian-manufactured anti-ship Yakhont missiles in Syria when its fighters were dispatched there over ten years ago to support President Bashar al-Assad in the nation’s civil conflict, according to reports from the media and analysts.
