Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has threatened to unleash the full fury of his militant group against Israel, and mocked the U.S. troops and warships that have been dispatched to the Middle East, vowing that Americans will “pay the price” if a broader war erupts.
In his first public speech since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Mr. Nasrallah denied on Friday that his Lebanon-based organization had any hand in the Hamas operation, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis. But Mr. Nasrallah praised the assault and said that his Hezbollah forces — widely viewed as much better trained and better equipped than the Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip — have already engaged in unprecedented fighting with the Israeli military and are prepared to go much further.
Whether he declares a full-fledged war against Israel, he suggested, depends largely on what happens in Gaza, where Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and has launched a relentless air campaign and a limited ground offensive.
Mr. Nasrallah said the U.S. must rein in Israel’s war in Gaza. If it doesn’t, he suggested, Israel may soon find itself facing a second front in the war.
“You, the Americans, can stop the aggression against Gaza because it is your aggression. Whoever wants to prevent a regional war, and I am talking to the Americans, must quickly halt the aggression on Gaza,” he said, according to English-language media translations of his remarks.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Israel on Friday and urged Jerusalem to redouble its efforts to protect Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll has soared as the Israeli operation grows more intense.
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The U.S. has also sent personnel to Israel and warships to the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea as both a show of solidarity with Jerusalem and as a warning. The Biden administration has warned Hezbollah, its prime sponsor, Iran, and any other actors against involving themselves in the Israel-Hamas war.
But if a broader war breaks out, Mr. Nasrallah said Hezbollah is not afraid of the U.S. military.
“You, the Americans, know very well that if war breaks out in the region, your fleets will be of no use,” he said, according to Reuters. “The one who will pay the price will be … your interests, your soldiers and your fleets.”
He said Hezbollah has “prepared well for your fleets” — an apparent reference to Hezbollah’s possession of anti-ship missiles that could be used to target U.S. carrier strike groups now in the region.
Israeli and Hezbollah troops have clashed regularly in the weeks since the Hamas attack. At least seven Israeli soldiers and at least 50 Hezbollah fighters have reportedly been killed in those clashes, according to media reports.
Mr. Nasrallah’s comments will fuel fear that Israel will soon find itself in a two-front war, facing Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah to the north. He said that Hezbollah is prepared for all options and can “resort to them at any time,” and he stressed that the fight against Israel would “not be limited” to the scale seen so far.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Mr. Nasrallah’s speech with a warning of his own.
“Don’t test us,” Mr. Netanyahu said, adding that Israel “will exact a price you can’t even imagine” on Hezbollah.
On Oct. 7, Hamas surprised most military and foreign policy analysts with the scope and precision of its well-coordinated attack on Israel. But the group’s strength as a legitimate fighting force pales in comparison with that of Hezbollah, specialists say.
“The Israeli nightmare scenario is that the first punch is from Gaza and then the uppercut comes from Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is much more powerful by orders of magnitude,” Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, told The Washington Times recently.
Hezbollah has more troops and weapons than Hamas, including an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and precision-guided missiles capable of striking targets deep inside Israel. Its fighters fought Israeli troops to a draw in a brief but intense border war in 2006, and analysts say Hezbollah has only grown stronger since then.
Mr. Nasrallah said that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack was planned in secret, with even other Palestinian factions unaware of what was about to happen. Iran, a prime backer of both Hezbollah and Hamas, has also insisted it did not know of the planned attack.
“This great, large-scale operation was purely the result of Palestinian planning and implementation,” Mr. Nasrallah said in a televised address, suggesting his militia had no part in the attack. “The great secrecy made this operation greatly successful.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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