Israel remains vigilant on its northern border as Hezbollah terrorists continue to pose a serious threat.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel in an interview with Al-Mayadeen television on Thursday, saying that his organization would retaliate for what he alleges are repeated IDF strikes on Syria, AFP reports.
Not for the first time, he claimed to have missiles that can reach anywhere in the Jewish state.
Nasrallah told Al-Mayadeen that since 2006, his organization has been in possession of Iranian Fateh-110 long-range missiles that can strike throughout the country, adding that Hezbollah is always ready to fight Israel.
The terrorist leader said that Israeli strikes on Syria “target the whole of the resistance axis,” which includes Hezbollah, Damascus and Tehran, AFP reports.
“The repeated bombings that struck several targets in Syria are a major violation, and we consider that any strike against Syria is a strike against the whole of the resistance axis, not just against Syria,” Nasrallah told the Beirut-based Arab news television.
Hezbollah serves as a key ally of the Assad regime in Syria. Nasrallah has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to help defend the Syrian president against the rebels in the civil war.
“The axis is capable of responding. This can happen at any time,” Nasrallah declared. “We have weapons that can bring us a victory against any type of Israeli aggression. Hezbollah’s fighting ability was not harmed, and if Israel relies on such, it is making a huge mistake.”
Asked about Hezbollah’s arsenal, Nasrallah said the group had “all [the weapons] you can imagine… and in great quantities.”
“We are now stronger than we ever were as a resistance movement,” he added.
AFP quotes Pentagon officials who say that Hezbollah has 50,000 missiles, including some capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
‘We Will Conquer the Galilee’
(Photo: shutterstock)
Nasrallah said that Hezbollah was ready to fight a new war against Israel in Lebanon, and he renewed a threat to invade the Galilee region. “When the resistance [Hezbollah] leadership… asks you [fighters]… to enter into Galilee, that means the resistance must be ready to enter into Galilee and to go even beyond the Galilee,” he stated in the interview.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has purportedly carried out several raids against targets in Syria, including depots storing weapons meant for Hezbollah.
The IAF reportedly attacked a shipment of advanced arms on its way to Hezbollah from Syria last February. In November 2013, Israel allegedly launched a rocket from the sea at a Syrian naval base in Latakia.
The latest IAF attack in Syria reportedly occurred in December 2014, when the IAF dropped approximately 10 bombs on stockpiles of advanced Russian-made missiles en route from the Syrian army to the Shi’ite terror organization.
The threat posed by Hezbollah to Israel in the north is far greater than that from Hamas in the south, Major-General Yair Golan warned in an interview in October.
“There is no doubt that the situation has changed since 2006,” a senior officer said in the IDF blog. “The organization has not only grown stronger; it is gaining operational experience in Syria and improving its capabilities. If they try to infiltrate Israel, it will not be 12-13 terrorists as in Operation Protective Edge, it will be 50-70.”
The officer was optimistic, however, regarding the IDF’s capabilities: “I believe that there is no challenge in Lebanon that the IDF cannot withstand,” he concluded.
By: United with Israel Staff
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