Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah on Monday threatened the Zionists of striking all their petrochemical factories, biological institutes and nuclear stores as well as facilities

Mohamed Salami, Marwa Haidar

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah on Monday threatened the Zionists of striking all their petrochemical, biological and nuclear sites if the Israeli army launches a major war against Lebanon.

In an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV channel, Sayyed Nasrallah eliminated the possibility of any Israeli war against Lebanon in the short term, noting that the Zionist entity does not carry out any military move without the American approval.

Sayyed Nasrallah reminded that in 2006, the US administration ordered the Israeli government to launch a war against Lebanon.

Sayyed Nasrallah considered that the logical, factual and realistic interpretation eliminates the possibility of any imminent Israeli war against Lebanon, but that if the Israeli officials decide to take an adventure, the outcome may differ.    

His eminence noted that the Israelis do not launch any war on the basis of Arab demands, but that some Arab regimes and spies work for the sake of the Israelis.

According to Sayyed Nasrallah, the Israelis do not start any war if they are not sure that it can attain its goals with the minimum extent of losses and costs.

Hezbollah managed through his achievements and capabilities to convince the Zionist entity that any war it launches against Lebanon is very costly, Sayyed Nasrallah said.

"The Israelis do not abandon the hostages and corpses taken by their enemies; this gives a chance for the Resistance to press the Zionist entity through this factor."

In this context, his eminence added that the Israelis know that Hezbollah possesses rockets that can reach all the occupied Palestinian territories, noting that Hezbollah will employ his capabilities only in case of an Israeli attack.

"The Israelis have been facing a deadlock since it threatened that Hezbollah would strike Ammonia tanks in Haifa because the Zionist government failed to move them to any other city due to the public rejection," his eminence pointed out.

No Limits, No Redlines

Sayyed Nasrallah added that the Israelis built during the recent decades petrochemical factories, biological sites and nuclear  reactors in residential areas, considering that the Zionist entity did not expect that there would be any Arab force that can strike them.

"Either it relied on Arab regimes' guarantees or it positively expected that most of the Arab countries would not strike those targets."

Sayyed Nasrallah said that all the Israeli measures (Iron Dome, etc.) to deter the Resistance will fail, adding that any Israeli war against Lebanon would be very costly because Hezbollah will use sophisticated weaponry to strike all the Zionist targets without any limit if Israel attacks Lebanon.

 To the Israeli officials who are threatening of destroying Lebanon in a way that it will back off dozens of years, Sayyed Nasrallah asked, "Where would your entity be if Hezbollah strikes all these targets that he has all the details about their positions and coordinates?"

His eminence addressed the Zionist settlers, "Ask your government that does not care about you to move the dangerous facilities from the residential areas."

Hezbollah leader asserted that the party will never grant the Zionist entity security guarantees, noting that the Resistance aims at preventing the Israelis from attacking Lebanon.

Sayyed Nasrallah responded to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's threat that the Zionist entity will not let Hezbollah obtain game-changing weaponry, by stressing that the Resistance and the Lebanese army has the right to get all the weaponry that can defend Lebanon.

"What is ironic is that Israel possesses nuclear weaponry and some parties criticize the Resistance if it tries to obtain defensive weapons."

"Hezbollah follows up all the Israeli preparations for any war despite the Syrian war."

Deterence Formula Won't Change

About the possibility that the Israeli army might launch limited  strikes against certain targets in Lebanon without leading to a major war, Sayyed Nasrallah warned the Zionists that such small battles will also be costly for them that the Resistance will not accept changing the deterrence formula with the entity and wasting the achievements of the mujahidin and the sacrifices of the martyrs.

Sayyed Nasrallah said that despite the fact that the Lebanese are nowadays occupied with the Israeli cyber violation, they also have to care about the Zionist aerial infringement that is being carried out on daily basis.

The Israeli drones are the enemy's eyes that it uses to prepare for the upcoming war because it monitors all the Lebanese territories," his eminence added, "If the Lebanese government does not take any actions against the Israeli aerial violation for our sovereignty and security the Resistance will search for a solution for this major breach."   

"Hezbollah is not concerned with receiving Israeli reassurances or threats; only idiots launch a war against Lebanon."

In a different context, Sayyed Nasrallah considered that the Saudi decision to blacklist Hezbollah represent an Arab cover for any Israeli war against Hezbollah and Lebanon.

"Some Arab leaders asked the Israelis during 2006 war to continue its war against Lebanon and Hezbollah."

"The Arab and Islamic peoples still support the Resistance despite all what has been done to distort Hezbollah image," Sayyed Nasrallah said.

"They are part of the axis of Resistance which includes Syria, Iraq, Iran, factions of Palestinian resistance (regarding fighting the Zionist entity) in addition to Hezbollah."

"In Syria, Russia has joined the axis of resistance though it is not part of it in all the domains."

Russia Intervention, Withdrawal from Syria Coordinated

Regarding the Russian military intervention in Syria, Sayyed Nasrallah explained that this decision was being mulled among Tehran, Moscow and Damascus for six months before taking it, noting that Hezbollah was informed about the developments of the related talks.

"The decision was discussed among the leaders of Syria, Iran and Russia and it had nothing to do with urgent developments."

"A coordination and operations room was established by Russia, Iraq, Iran and Syria in Baghdad to lead the confrontation in the region."

His eminence explained the recent Russian military withdrawal, saying that Russia intensified its military deployment in Syria in preparation for any Russian-Turkish confrontation after Turkey downed a Russian warplane.

His eminence noted that Turkey has never violated the Syrian airspace after Russian threatened to down any warplane that violates Syria sovereignty.

"So after the tension between Turkey and Russia decreased, the latter withdrew the forces that were summoned upon the escalation," Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out, "The Russian military achievements also allowed Moscow to cut the number of deployed troops."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat of deploying troops within hours in Syria if necessary asserts that the Russian political stance has not changed."

"Hezbollah was notified about the partial withdrawal of the Russian troops from Syria before it occurred."

Syria Political Solution

Politically, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the all the parties of the axis of resistance aim at reaching a solution in Syria, adding that the Americans have become certain that terrorist groups can never change the battlefield situation.

"The Americans have cancelled their programs to train the so-called moderate militants for they failed to fight ISIL and as the US realized that the terrorists would replace the Syrian government if it fell."

"The US administration wants to reach a political solution that serves its interests and those of its allies, not the Syrians."

The axis of resistance aims at reaching a political settlement that preserves the Syrians' rights to determine the destiny of the ruling system, according to Sayyed Nasrallah.

"We will not let the Americans and their allies obtain politically what they failed to get in the battlefield."

Sayyed Nasrallah noted that the Turkish losses due to Syria developments are huge, which imposed on the Turks to be more realistic than the Saudis who are deactivating all the political solutions.  

Saudi delays the political solution in Syria, betting on any possible change in the American policy in the Middle East.

Blacklisting Hezbollah Saudi Decision

Talking further about the decision to blacklist Hezbollah as a ‘terrorist organization’, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that such decision was spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, noting that Hezbollah has information that Riyadh had intention to crush Hezbollah since July war 2006. However, he said he would not disclose such information because of local considerations.

“I have information about the Saudi scheme to crush the resistance but I will not talk about because of local considerations. Saudi spent millions of dollars in a bid to destroy the resistance.”

“The decision to blacklist Hezbollah is a Saudi decision. Saudi has the financial, media and religious power in which can use to threat whoever opposes it,” his eminence told al-Mayadeen.

Meanwhile, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that the Saudi scheme has failed in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, noting that the Al-Saud regime is stressed and launching a war against Hezbollah because of this failure across many fronts.

“Saudi regime wanted to hold Hezbollah accountable for its failure in several fronts.”

Though, Hezbollah still has popularity in the Arab and the Islamic world, Hezbollah S.G. said, noting that the Saudi regime doesn’t tolerate any kind opposition.

“Saudi regime fears any kind of opposition even if it was by word.”

Hezbollah Bahrain 'Interference'

Talking about reports on Hezbollah interference in Bahrain, Sayyed Nasrallah said that Hezbollah “has never trained or funded any side in Bahrain,” stressing that such reports are completely false and baseless.

“I call upon Arab foreign ministers, who took the decision to blacklist Hezbollah, to review such reports because they are false,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, noting that Hezbollah is not ashamed of his interference in Syria and Iraq, and that “when were engaged in any battle across the Arab world we say the truth.”

“We were fighting Israel at the Lebanese border area with Palestine. When the axis of resistance was targeted we headed to Syria for confronting such scheme.”

Saudi-Iran Dialogue

On the other hand, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Saudi doesn’t want dialogue in the region, especially with Iran, Syria or Hezbollah.

“The Iranians repeatedly announced they were willing to hold dialogue with Saudis, and (Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad) Zarif said Iran wants dialogue with Saudi, but the Saudis did not approved his visit.”

“When they were inflicted with heavy losses, the Saudis did not want to go to dialogue due to their weakened position. We always call for dialogue in the region. But there is a regime which is stressed because of his losses, and because of these losses, he is launching a war against Hezbollah.”

In this context, the resistance leader noted that Saudi war against Hezbollah has many phases, saying that Riyadh is fighting Hezbollah with people, reiterating his previous calls to exclude the people especially those who are in Gulf states from such war.

“Saudi Arabia is launching a war in Hezbollah that the Arabs did not carried out against each others during the Jahiliyyah.”

Meanwhile, Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that Hezbollah’s relation with Palestinian resistance factions is good, adding that the Lebanese resistance alliances with powers across the Arab world were not based on religious issues but on the political stance of these powers.

“The only consideration we look at is the resistance issue.”

Lebanese Presidential Vote

Talking about Lebanese local affairs, Sayyed Nasrallah said that former PM, Saad Hariri is trying to fulfill the Saudi demands to launch a campaign against Hezbollah.

“Hariri has been criticizing Hezbollah since the first day of his return to Lebanon and this was under the request of Saudi Arabia.”

However, his eminence said that the only positive thing in Hariri’s remarks is the continuation of dialogue between al-Mustaqbal party and Hezbollah.

Sayyed Nasrallah noted that there are several issues disagreed upon between the two parties, including the presidential vote and the electoral law. In this context, he said that the only fair electoral law is the one based on proportional representation.

Sayyed Nasrallah meanwhile, stressed that Lebanon can only be built upon the concept of partnership. He noted that the relation between Hezbollah and Amal movement is firm and based on mutual respect.

“Some seek discord between Hezbollah and Amal and this will never happen.”

Meanwhile, Sayyed Nasrallah reiterated that Hezbollah’s candidate for presidential elections in Lebanon is MP Michel Aoun.

“Aoun is our presidential nominee as long as he says I am a candidate.”

His eminence said that Hezbollah wants a strong president “who can’t be purchased and who doesn’t fear some powerful states in the region and the world.”

On the other hand, Sayyed Nasrallah noted that when Hezbollah supports Aoun for presidency this doesn’t mean that Hezbollah doesn’t believe that the head of Marada Movement, MP Sleiman Frangieh has the characteristics of a strong president.

Hezbollah-Iran Relation

Concerning the relation with Iran, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that regardless the side which has win the elections in Iran, the ties between the resistance and the Islamic Republic is good.

In this context, he disclosed that he had visited the Islamic Republic “someday since the election of President, Sheikh Hasan Rouhani.”

Egyptian Journalist Haikal Defended Hezbollah

Sayyed Nasrallah praised the late Egyptian journalist, Mohamamd Hasanein Haikal, as an “iconic and veteran figure whom we have lost.”

His eminence noted that Hezbollah delegation’s visit to Egypt last month was just for offering condolences over the death of Haikal, and that it had no political aims.

“Haikal had repeatedly defended Hezbollah in public,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, noting that the Egyptian journalist has defended Hezbollah’s presence in Syria.

“As Haikal passes away, the Arab world loses one of the few people who withstood against the power of money and Takfiri ideology.”

Hezbollah Syria Presence

Asked about any expected withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from Syria, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that such presence is fully coordinated with the Syrian leadership.

“The aim of Hezbollah presence in Syria is to prevent its fall in the hands of Takfiris, and as long as this threat exists Hezbollah is concerned to stay in Syria to defend it, regardless of the Russian withdrawal or any expected withdrawal of Iranian advisors.”

“Where we should be will be. Hezbollah’s destiny is to defend his brothers in Syria.”