The deputy leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah said in an interview that his organization is “ready” to confront Israel, Reuters reported Thursday.
Hezbollah “is ready to confront the aggression if it happens, if Israel decides to carry out any foolish action,” Naim Qassem told Reuters. “But it does not appear that the circumstances are for an Israeli decision for war.”
Qassem also insisted that Basher al-Assad remains the leader of Syria in any political arrangement that ends the civil war there.
“There is no solution in Syria under the title of ‘excluding President Assad’. On the contrary, the solution in Syria is with President Assad, and he is the mandatory channel for the solution,” Qassem said. Reuters noted that Hezbollah has been actively backing Assad since 2012 in the civil war in which an estimated 500,000 people have been killed.
Qassem refused to answer questions about Hezbollah’s military capabilities, but it was estimated in 2016 that Hezbollah possesses an excess of 130,000 rockets, a rocket arsenal larger than those of the 27 members of NATO – outside of the United States – combined.
Hezbollah’s military strength, according Qassem’s boss, Sheikh Hasssan Nasrallah, was provided by Iran. “We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Nasrallah said in a speech in 2016.
Qassem’s threat comes at a time when Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was meeting in Rome to obtain international funding for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Reuters reported that at the meeting, Hariri announced that Lebanon would be sending more troops to the south of the country and that he views Israel as “the primary threat to Lebanon.”
While some believe that strengthening the LAF could help it stand up to Hezbollah, Reuters noted that other analysts and Israeli officials have warned that “as Hezbollah becomes more integrated into Lebanese politics, the line between it and the LAF blurs.”
[Photo: MEMRI TV Videos / YouTube]