Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Monday evening in a speech that his terror organization can return Israel to the Stone Age, similar to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's threats to do so to Lebanon.
LEBANESE TERRORIST LEADER SENDS VIOLENT WARNING
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Gallant said last week during a visit to Mount Dov that "I warn Hezbollah and Nasrallah not to make a mistake. You made mistakes in the past and paid very heavy prices. If, God forbid, an escalation or conflict develops here - we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age."
During the speech to mark Victory Day in Second Lebanon War, Nasrallah said: "The Israeli army today is in its worst state. Lack of trust between the soldiers and the commanders and the command, a lack of trust between the army and the political echelon, the unwillingness to sacrifice, the lack of motivation to serve in the combat units, failure to improve this situation. Even when the army tried to make a ground invasion in Gaza, they were killed and kidnapped.
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Hexbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatens Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in speech
(Photo: Elad Malka)
"They don't have a real army achievement, certainly not a mighty and legendary army, all the achievements are only from the air. Now and in light of the political divide in Israel, its situation is the worst in relation to any point in time, and this is what senior Israelis and reserve officers are saying and this is something that has been in the headlines for the past two days between the government and the Chief of Staff and the Air Force. But the real blow to the army will be if the new recruitment law of the religious extremists is passed, they actually said that if this law passed it would be a severe blow to the army."
Nasrallah further said that "since 2006 we see a change in the concept of security, we see passive and active defense, whether it is shelters and shielding or whether it is the interception of rockets and missiles, measures that were developed during the conflicts in Gaza. Iron Dome, David's Slingshot, Patriot and Barak. Almost every year we do exercises to see the readiness of the home front for war, and you can hear the Israeli generals themselves saying that the home front is not ready.
"It was published in the media that there are 2.5 million Israelis who do not have protection and shelter. The most important thing is the trust that no longer exists in the home front and the unwillingness of the residents in these areas to pay the price and make sacrifices for the war, and this is also reflected in the army, and we have also seen it in recent months, especially with the government of the strange and delusional Netanyahu and the internal rift and the demonstrations and even before that."
The Secretary General of Hezbollah continued his words of defiance. "We are asked how we respond to the threats of the enemy. A few days ago, the Israeli Defense Minister stood hundreds of meters from the (border) fence because he knows we are following him, and threatened and said they will return Lebanon to the Stone Age. We do not deny that Israel has the ability to return Lebanon to the Stone Age, with its powerful air force, and the American army and aid and backing; this is nothing new, it has always been this way. Therefore, this is not what is interesting here, but what Hezbollah and the resistance can do, and this is something that the Israeli command understands, and therefore these threats have no value - look at where Lebanon is today.
"The territory of Israel is known, I once even pointed to a map. You can prepare a list. The civilian airports, the military airports, the air force bases, power plants, water plants, central communication centers, a group of certain infrastructures There is no need to expand on this, the oil and fuel and ammonia plants, you can also include the (nuclear) plants in Dimona - these are in a small area. We are not talking about a country the size of the United States or Russia or even Sudan. We are talking about the territories of occupied Palestine, the enemy can calculate how accurate a missile must be to destroy these targets, and if Israel activates all of its Iron Dome batteries and the Sling of David, and the Patriot batteries. Okay, so you intercepted some of the missiles, but what is the required amount?"
Nasrallah further stated in his speech: "Israeli officers themselves presented a technical analysis, with the intention of presenting the threat. They said that the precision missiles could hit nuclear plants. There are of course other targets that we do not intend to go into detail about, and all of this is assuming that the war will be limited only to the resistance in Lebanon. So what will happen if the campaign develops into fighting with the entire axis of resistance? It is possible for Lebanon to return some settlement here or there to the Stone Age, but if the campaign develops into the entire axis of resistance, then there will no longer be such a thing called Israel left.
"That's why the leadership of the enemy's army must understand - it's not a matter of one point, but of being or ceasing to exist. They need to put their feet on the ground and act rationally, and most of the time they really do act logically if we ignore all the media circus, so all these threats don't scare us and Lebanon enjoys strength centers that are able to deter the enemy, and give confidence in dealing with the enemy. The golden equation we always talk about is the one that brought back the gas fields (the border agreement) and is the one that will bring back the entire border and will be a real protector for the Lebanese people," Nasrallah concluded.
Nasrallah's speech Monday evening comes against the backdrop of repeated provocations by Hezbollah along the border, where one of the terrorist organization's tents is still standing in Israeli territory on Mount Dov. The secretary general of Hezbollah is closely following what is happeneing in Israel.
In recent months there has been an escalation on the northern border, and in a situation assessment published about a month ago, the research staff of the Alma Center for the Study of Security Challenges in the North stated that they have "identified a clear pattern by Hezbollah to create friction and escalation in the areas of dispute on the Blue Line" - the dividing line between Israel and Lebanon according to the UN resolution.