Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Friday that a wider conflict in the Middle East is a real possibility in his first speech since war broke out between Israel and Hamas.
Hezbollah, an Islamist political group with a powerful Iranian-backed military wing, has been clashing with Israeli forces on the Lebanese-Israeli border since Hamas’s attack on Israel, in which 1,300 people were killed and 230 taken hostage.
In a speech delivered from a secret location that was watched by thousands at a rally in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, Nasrallah blamed the U.S. for the conflict.
“If the U.S. wants to avoid a regional war, the aggression on Gaza must stop,” he asserted, warning that further escalation on the Lebanese front is “a real possibility.”
“Total war is possible,” added Nasrallah, who further defended Hamas’ actions as “correct, wise and just” and described the attack on Israel as “100% Palestinian.”
Nasrallah also thanked the “strong and brave” Iranian-backed forces in Yemen and Iraq for getting involved in the war.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have been firing drones and missiles at Israel, while Iraqi Shiite militias have attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim organization with great political influence in Lebanon and controls the most powerful armed force in that country.
It is considered a terrorist group by the United States and other Western countries.
It was created in the 1980s by the region’s most dominant Shiite power, Iran, to oppose Israel. At the time, Israeli forces had occupied southern Lebanon during the country’s civil war.
Hezbollah has participated in national elections since 1992 and has become a major political force.
Its armed wing has carried out deadly attacks against Israeli and U.S. forces in Lebanon. When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah took credit for driving them out.
“No declaration of all-out war.”
When Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah finally spoke out about the latest Israel-Gaza war after a month of silence, what he didn’t say mattered as much as what he did say.
There was no declaration of all-out war against Israel. Few here expected such a thing.
Nasrallah knows that there is little appetite in Lebanon for another war with Israel. This country has many problems. The economy is in shambles and the political system, such as it is, is in a state of collapse.
And the two U.S. aircraft carriers recently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea can also be a powerful deterrent.