The head of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, promised on Wednesday that no place in Israel will be safe if an all-out war breaks out between the archenemies.
“Israel must wait for us on land, at sea and in the air,” he said.
Hezbollah has a “bank of objectives” to achieve in Israel, he said.
However, he stressed that his Shiite group does not intend to engage in an all-out war with Israel.
The Hezbollah chief spoke via video conference during a commemoration ceremony in Beirut for a senior commander who was killed by Israel last week in southern Lebanon.
Nasrallah also for the first time warned neighboring Cyprus against cooperating with the Israeli military.
If the Cypriot government made its airports and military bases available to the Israeli military, the island state “would become part of the war,” Nasrallah said.
Israeli media reported that Israeli army special forces traveled to Cyprus, a Mediterranean island, to train to combat Hezbollah.
The situation between Lebanon and Israel has deteriorated. There are growing concerns that daily cross-border clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah militia are about to expand.
Israel’s military approved plans for an offensive in Lebanon on Tuesday, raising concerns about an escalation.
The military said senior commanders approved “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon” during an assessment of the situation. Troop readiness will increase further.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah said that at least three of its members were killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese security sources said the Israeli drone strike hit an area in the southern village of Yaroun, not far from the border with Israel.
