Nasrallah: Response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah commander ‘inevitable’
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah warned that the group was bound to respond to Israel’s assassination of its top military commander, saying his death and that of the Hamas leader “crossed” red lines.
In a speech broadcast at the funeral of Shukr on Thursday, Nasrallah said “the enemy, and those who are behind the enemy, must await our inevitable response.”
He said that fighting has entered “a new phase” after Israel’s assassination of Fouad Shukr and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
The Hezbollah chief said Israel has “crossed red lines” in the assassinations and that it must expect “rage and revenge on all the fronts supporting Gaza.”
A number of countries had asked Hezbollah to retaliate in an “acceptable” way or not at all. But he said it would be “impossible” for the group not to respond, he added.
“There is no discussion on this point. The only things lying between us and you are the days, the nights and the battlefield,” Nasrallah added in an address to Israel.
“I’m not saying we reserve the right to respond at the appropriate time and place,” said Nasrallah. “Absolutely not. We will respond. That’s final.”
Nasrallah reiterated that Hezbollah was not behind the Saturday rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights in which 12 children were killed.
He said Hezbollah would have admitted if it had made a mistake and killed civilians, and suggested it could have been an Israeli interceptor that hit Majdal Shams.
Israel, he said, deliberately carried out the rocket attack in order to make up an excuse for the assassination of resistance commanders.
“The motive behind the Majdal al-Shams rocket strike was to pit the Druze community in the occupied Golan Heights against local Shia Muslims. Hezbollah would have acknowledged responsibility had it committed a mistake that led to the death of civilians,” Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah stated that Israeli authorities rushed to pin the blame for the Majdal Shams attack on Hezbollah as soon as they found out that the majority of the fatalities were children.
The Hezbollah chief denounces the strike in Beirut that killed Shukr as “an act of aggression and not simply an assassination.”
Nasrallah said Hezbollah is “paying the price for its support for Gaza and the Palestinian people” but the movement is now beyond the support phase, declaring an “open battle on all fronts.”
The only way to end the war on the Lebanese front is for Israel to stop its “aggression” in Gaza, he added.
He underlined that Israel and its Western sponsors must await a harsh and painful response to the assassinations.
“Our response will certainly come. We are looking for a real and very calculated response. The Axis of Resistance will fight on wisely and courageously,” Nasrallah said.
Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s killing but it announced that it had “eliminated” Shukr, describing him as Hezbollah’s “most senior military commander” and Nasrallah’s “right-hand
man”.