Hezbollah chief Nasrallah threatens Israel, Cyprus if Gaza war spills over

The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Wednesday that nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war breaks out between the two foes, and also threatened EU member Cyprus for the first time and other parts of the Mediterranean.

Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel for more than eight months in parallel with the Gaza war. On Tuesday, the Iran-backed group published what it said was drone footage of sensitive military sites deep in Israeli territory.

In a televised address on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said "there will be no place safe from our missiles and our drones" in Israel in the event of a broader war.

The group also had "a bank of targets" that it could target in precision strikes, he said.

Israel "knows that what also awaits it in the Mediterranean is very big ... In the face of a battle of this magnitude, it knows that it must now wait for us on land, in the air, and at sea," Nasrallah added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had warned on Tuesday that a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon and Israel's military said "operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated".

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides denied any suggestion Cyprus was taking sides in any conflict.

(Reuters)


Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Read also:
Israeli army in urgent need of troops amid rising casualties in Gaza
Netanyahu on all fronts: Can Israel keep up war in Gaza while taking on Hezbollah?
Israel approves ‘operational plan’ for Lebanon offensive, says army