By Stefan J. Bos, ChiefInternational Correspondent Worthy News
NICOSIA/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The war in Gaza and related cross-border fighting appeared to spread to the European Union on Friday after the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group warned it could target the island of Cyprus, an EU member state, and Israel.
And closer to home, smoke from missile intercepts over northern Israel and fires from air strikes in southern Lebanon were outward signs of a fear that the Gaza war was also expanding into a wider regional conflict.
The tensions followed Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threats during an event commemorating his senior commander Taleb Abdallah, who was killed by Israel’s military last week.
“Without a doubt, our loss is great,” Nasrallah stressed tearfully while eulogizing Abdallah before launching threats and boasts against Israel and Cyprus.
“Israel knows that there will be no place in Israel that our missiles and drones won’t hit, and it won’t be random,” he added while speaking about the military of his Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
“Israel knows that we have a real target bank and that we can reach all targets in a way that will shake the foundations of the Zionist entity,” he said, using his usual epithet to refer to Israel.
He said Hezbollah believes that only a ceasefire in the war in Gaza would change the situation. Israel says a lasting truce is only possible if all hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed.
WORST ATROCITIES
Iran-backed Hezbollah supports Hamas, which on October 7 carried out the worst recorded atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust, killing some 1,200 people and abducting over 250 others in Israel.
That prompted a war in which the Hamas-run Health Ministry claims more than 37,000 Palestinians died. Israel has given slightly lower figures and suggests about half of those killed were Hamas-related fighters.
Nasrallah suggested that Hezbollah would target Israeli oil rigs in the Mediterranean and even Cyprus if the war in Gaza continues.
“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” he warned.
Cyprus, which is not part of the NATO military alliance, has conducted joint military exercises with Israel in the past. However, a war with Hezbollah would potentially overwhelm the EU, which is already facing a massive armed conflict in Ukraine.
Yet, reacting to Nasrallah’s threats, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides stressed that his small island country “is in no way involved” in military operations in the region.
He said Nasrallah’s comments “don’t in any way reflect what’s being attempted, which is to present a picture that Cyprus is involved in military operations.”
ISRAELI MILITARY
Nasrallah also called the current war the “greatest campaign the Islamic nation has fought since 1948,” promising it would change the face of the region and its future.
On the Israeli side of the border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Defense Forces Chief (IDF) Staff Luitenant-General Herzi Halevi visited troops.
Halevi made clear that the IDF was not content just waging a defense battle against the Hezbollah terrorists.
“We have many forces in the IDF focused on attacking Hezbollah. Even today, we have already killed several of their operatives,” he told reporters.
He noted that Hezbollah “released a video showcasing a capability we are familiar with. And we are preparing and building solutions to counter such capabilities and others you will encounter when needed,” Halevi said, referring to drone video footage Hezbollah published Wednesday.
“We, of course, possess powerful capabilities, of which the enemy knows only a fraction and will encounter them at the right time,” Halevi stated.
Continuing recent threats that Israel is getting closer to declaring war in the north, Gallant said, “We have an obligation to change the situation in the north and return the citizens safely to their homes, even if we have to fight on a different scale.”
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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