Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to avenge the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas' number two, and threatened to make Israel pay the price if "a full-scale war breaks out."
In a televised speech, Nasrallah warned that it is "inevitable" that his group responds to the murder of Arouri in Beirut, because according to him, if he does not take action, all of Lebanon would be "exposed" to new Israeli attacks.
“[Hezbollah] cannot be silent about a violation of this level ... This means that all of Lebanon will become exposed, all cities, villages, and figures will become exposed," he said.
Nasrallah boasted that his group has already carried out 670 military operations on the border between Israel and Lebanon since the war began in October, and suggested that its fighters are ready to advance and attack residents of northern Israel if Israel attacks Lebanon.
Nasrallah warns northern Israel ‘first to pay the price’ if full-blown war erupts https://t.co/rIjo6N85Ej . Click to read ⬇️
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) January 5, 2024
“They are calling on their government to go to war on Lebanon or to have a military solution for Lebanon. I tell them: this choice is a mistake, for you and your government, and the first one who will pay for this mistaken choice is you,” he said, referring to northern Israeli residents.
"Whoever thinks of war with us — in one word, he will regret it," he added.
During the speech, Nasrallah also spoke of the operations that Hezbollah is carrying out on the southern border have opened a “historic opportunity” for Lebanon to recover land occupied by Israel, and he claimed that in his opinion, the current war "is not only for Palestine but also for Lebanon and its south, in particular the region south of the Litani River.”
The death of Saleh al-Arouri
The Hamas number two was killed on Tuesday in Beirut, Lebanon, during a suspected Israeli drone offensive. However, the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces claim that they were not responsible for Arouri's murder.
“Whoever did it, it must be clear: That this was not attack an attack on the Lebanese state. Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership,” said Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
