Lebanon’s Hezbollah is a close threat to Israel. Sign showing the distance between Jerusalem and Lebanese capital city. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
Israel isn’t alone in their concerns about the Hezbollah terrorist group, as major political figures in Lebanon have critiqued Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech last week threatening Israel. The Daily Star reported that former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, leader of the Future bloc in Lebanon’s parliament, was one of multiple members of the political faction that assailed Nasrallah for escalating tensions with Israel.
Following Hezbollah’s attack on Israeli soldiers last week, Nasrallah delivered a Friday speech stating that the terror group would respond to any future Israeli strikes “at any time and any place and in any way,” according to al-Manar. In response, Future parliamentarian Ammar Houri told The Daily Star that “instead of easing tensions in the country, Nasrallah opted to take Lebanon to the regional arena, that is, Iran, by imposing new rules of engagement with Israel.”
The political angst over Nasrallah’s speech has even impacted discussions between Hezbollah and the Future bloc over addressing political tensions in Lebanon, according to what Houri told The Daily Star.
Nasrallah’s passionate speech on Friday paints a dismal future with Israel as well. The group and Israel fought a war in 2006, but have maintained an uneasy calm since then. Hezbollah has sought to upgrade its military capabilities vis-à-vis Israel for future conflicts, while Israel has struck military and terrorist targets in an effort to prevent the group from acquiring advanced weapons or carrying out terror against Israel.
Al-Manar quoted Nasrallah as stating that in the past the group has supposedly held back in its responses against Israeli strikes, but that they wouldn’t do that any longer. “In the past we used to differentiate in our response between an assassination or a military act, but today if any resistance member is killed, we will consider it our right to respond in the appropriate time and place,” said Nasrallah.
Lebanon isn’t happy about this new threat, and Israel may not be the only who suffers because of it.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, February 2, 2015)