“I will soon go back to the front,” says a man with bandaged hands and a burned face. Before Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke, channels close to the Shiite terrorist organization published interviews with Hezbollah members who were injured by exploding pagers or radios. According to official figures, around 3,000 people injured and 37 killedThe victims are said to include many Hezbollah members, but also civilians. According to authorities, at least two children were killed.
“Red lines crossed”
Nasrallah addressed this first in his speech, expressing his condolences to the “martyrs’ families” and thanking the relief workers and the “broad solidarity” of the Lebanese people before Israel once again described Lebanon as a “cancer” and said that Israel had “crossed all red lines” with this attack. During his speech, Israeli fighter jets flew over Lebanon, and at least a sonic boom could be heard. Some places in Lebanon were bombed.
Nasrallah continued his speech and called the Israeli operation a massacre, not without referring to the upcoming anniversary of the Hamas massacre 1,200 people in Israel and called it a “blessed day.” “Israel’s blow was a heavy blow. They are technologically superior to us,” Nasrallah continued, but immediately claimed that Hezbollah would learn from it.
“More steadfast, more determined”
“The important thing is that this heavy blow does not bring us down, and we will become even more steadfast, determined, promising and capable of overcoming all dangers,” he said.
Nasrallah did not say much about “revenge”. Instead, he focused on addressing the “critics” who accuse Hezbollah of not taking strong enough action against Israel. “Tens of thousands of settlers (Israeli citizens, ed.) have had to leave the north. They are crying, but they will not be able to return unless they stop the war in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. Together with the Houthis in Yemen and other terrorist organizations in Iraq, they are putting pressure on Israel.
More than once, Nasrallah said Israel should just come, and Hezbollah was ready to repel a ground offensive. “Netanyahu, you will not be able to bring the settlers back to the north,” he said.