Hezbollah Warns: ‘If Israel Wants to Launch a War, We are Ready’
- Hezbollah Warns: ‘If Israel Wants to Launch a War, We are Ready’
by https://sputniknews.com/
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of being an Iranian “proxy,” and claimed the group had taken control of the newly formed Lebanese government. The claims were made amid ongoing tensions over a network of tunnels found on the Lebanese-Israeli border, and Israeli fears of Hezbollah’s growing missile capabilities.
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Hezbollah does not believe Israel is capable of starting a conflict with Lebanon, but considers itself “ready” to respond if they do so, the group’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said in an interview with Lebanese television on Sunday, Press TV has reported.
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“I don’t think Israel is ready to start a conflict with Lebanon now because the situation is complicated and Israel is not interested in war,” Qassem said. “But if it wants to launch a war, we are ready,” the official warned.
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Responding to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim that the newly formed Lebanese government was “controlled” by Hezbollah, Qassem said this wasn’t the case.
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“These allegations are not important. Hezbollah considers itself part of a national unity government in Lebanon,” he said. Qassem pointed out that the group comprised “only 10 per cent” of the government, with just three of the new government’s thirty one ministers being Hezbollah members or affiliates.
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Earlier, Netanyahu reiterated his longstanding view that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, and vowed to send a “very powerful message, just as we stop the terror tunnels coming into Israel: We will stop all the aggression, from Lebanon or from Syria or from Iran itself.”
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