BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday blasted the US over the Israel-Hamas war, saying it is the only country that can stop Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, but is failing to do so.
He said “the side that can stop the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip is the US, which is running this aggression.”
Nasrallah threatened Washington, saying: “if you want to avoid a regional war and stop the attacks against your bases, you should stop the aggression in Gaza.”
He indicated that “targeting the US bases in Iraq and other countries happened in solidarity with Gaza.”
Nasrallah claimed that the operations served the idea of “freeing Iraq and Syria of the remaining occupying forces.”
He urged Arab and Islamic nations to adopt a unified stance, and call on the US to stop the war and associated crimes.
Nasrallah accused the US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, of being either “a liar or an ignorant.”
He said: “The Americans used every foreign, non-foreign and Lebanese channel to threaten us, and despite that, the operations of the resistance didn’t stop in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq.”
After his first speech a week ago, Nasrallah appeared for a second time on Saturday to address the developing hostilities in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.
“The US administration is the one running, supporting, and carrying out this conflict,” he said.
“All the pressuring elements in our region should primarily focus on the US administration, as it is the first and final decision-maker.”
Nasrallah denounced “Israel’s war crimes and brutality in a besieged narrow area that had been under bombardment since Oct. 7.”
He said: “What’s happening in Gaza is big, dangerous, exceptional and lacks red lines.
“What’s also strange about this aggression is the public and blatant aggression against hospitals under pretenses, in addition to these large numbers of martyrs, most of whom are children and women.”
Nasrallah added: “They miscalculate the situation when they say that all this killing, terrorism, and brutality has a goal.”
He claimed Israel’s main objective “is to subjugate not only the people of Gaza, but also the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people, and the peoples of the region, break their will to demand their legitimate rights, and make them lose their steadfastness and resistance.”
He added that the Israelis’ aim is to tell Palestinians: “Forget about your land, your hostages, and your sanctities.”
Nasrallah said: “While they’re destroying Gaza, they are also telling the Lebanese, ‘Look at what’s happening in Gaza because it resisted and revolted.’”
The Hezbollah chief said he believes that “Israelis are the ones who should give up, and know that the remains of the martyrs and children will result in new resistance generations with stronger determination to fight the occupier.”
Nasrallah praised the change in the world’s public opinion and the exposure of the falsity of Israeli claims.
Referring to clashes on Lebanon’s southern border, he said: “For the first time, we have used strike drones and the Volcano-2H missiles weighing half a ton, which is a new element in this confrontation. You can only imagine the magnitude of losses.”
He said the group’s operations will continue despite the permanent presence of Israeli armed drones.
“This front will remain a pressuring front,” he said.
Hostilities in southern Lebanon intensified as Nasrallah spoke.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said there was a gradual escalation in southern Lebanon, but things remain under control.
Hezbollah said that it had “targeted gatherings of the occupying forces in the Shomera Valley, Tal Shahar, and Badid, causing confirmed casualties.”
Israeli shelling reached Al-Hamames Mountain, the outskirts of Odaisseh, the Halta Heights, and the outskirts of the Khiyam village. Israel has also used drones to bomb Aita Al-Shaab.
The Amal Movement, an ally of Hezbollah, said that a member, Ali Jamil Al-Hajj Daoud, had been killed and two other members injured after an outpost in Rab Al-Thalathine village was targeted by Israel.
IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that Israeli warplanes carried out a string of attacks on Hezbollah’s infrastructure, adding that artillery shelling targeted sources of fire inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah has targeted Israeli outposts in Margaliot and Kiryat Shmona, as well as the radar site in Jabal Al-Sheikh and the Metula outpost.
According to Israeli media outlets, clashes took place after a drone had violated the airspace.
Hezbollah also attacked an Israeli infantry force in the Ramim outpost with a guided missile. Israel responded by targeting many Lebanese border villages with artillery.
