BEIRUT: Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Monday denied a widely circulating media report that he had warned of a likely war with Israel this summer. “Usually when there is something written in a newspaper, I don’t respond because most of it would be based on wrong information,” Nasrallah said during a televised speech on the 34th anniversary of the founding of the Imam al-Mahdi Scouts.
“But now I feel I am obliged to respond to this, given that many local media outlets picked the story up. I never said that during summer there would be an Israeli war on Lebanon; this has never happened in any meeting.”
Nasrallah was responding to an article published by Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper over the weekend and that claimed Nasrallah had told his commanders that Israel was planning for a surprise war on Lebanon.
“In my personal opinion, I rule out that Israel will launch a war on Lebanon,” he added Monday.
Hezbollah and Israel engaged in a 34-day war in July 2006. Although the border has been relatively calm since then, in recent years several reports have come out warning that another war was likely to erupt.
On previous occasions, Nasrallah has said Israel was unlikely to launch a war due to its own internal matters. He reiterated this Monday.
“Currently it is out of the question that any war can be carried out by the air force only,” he said. “Any upcoming military operation should be done through land, and there is a lot of talk in Israel that the Israeli land brigades aren’t ready.”
The Hezbollah chief, however, warned that Israel remained the enemy and this meant “all possibilities should remain on the table.”
Nasrallah said that in addition to the “wrong” content of the article, it came at a “bad” time. He questioned why the story would be published as Lebanon nears the summer tourist season, and called on media outlets to be more careful in picking stories up.
“I know some do it because they want the scoop, but I want to warn everyone that there is something that is happening and that is part of a systematic campaign,” he said. “We should be aware of everything is being said and written, especially if it has to do with Hezbollah. What is written in media outlets should be read with doubt, especially if it is coming from a Gulf newspaper.”