Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday warned Israel against attacking Lebanon, saying "all options" are on the table and that the chance of open conflict is "realistic."
"All options are open on our Lebanese front," Nasrallah said, in a highly-anticipated televised speech commemorating the Hezbollah fighters who have been killed in clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border since October 8.
"We say to the enemy that might think of attacking Lebanon or carrying out a pre-emptive operation, that this would be the greatest foolishness of its existence," he added.
Hezbollah is prepared for all options, Nasrallah warned, “and we can resort to them at any time.” The fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border would “not be limited” to the scale seen until now, he added.
“Some say I’m going to announce that we have entered the battle," Nasrallah said. "We already entered the battle on Oct. 8,” he added, noting that Hezbollah's cross-border strikes have pulled away Israeli forces that would otherwise be focused on Hamas in Gaza.
“I warn the Zionist enemy against pressing on with the attacks that target civilians, and this will return us to the ‘civilian for civilian’ rule,” he warned.
“The development of things on the southern front is linked to the course and development of the events in Gaza and the Zionist enemy's behavior towards Lebanon,” Nasrallah pointed out.
Noting that “what's happening on our Lebanese front did not even happen during the (2006) July War,” Nasrallah added that “what is happening on our front is important and very influential.”
“But anyhow we will not settle for it,” Nasrallah added, signaling that Hezbollah might escalate its attacks in the coming days.
“Some might find what is happening on our front to be moderate, but if you look at it objectively, you will find it to be important and very big,” he said.
Nasrallah also told the United States that his Iran-backed group is ready to face its warships and that the way to prevent a regional war is to halt the attacks in Gaza.
"Your fleet in the Mediterranean does not scare us... We are ready to face the fleet you threaten us with," Nasrallah said, addressing the United States. "Whoever wants to prevent a regional war must quickly stop the aggression on Gaza," he added.
Nasrallah also criticized the strong U.S. backing of Israel in its bombardment of Gaza that has killed more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians. While U.S. officials in recent days have pushed more publicly for protecting civilians in Gaza, they have yet to call for a cease-fire.
The Hezbollah leader said U.S. President Joe Biden had made a “fake argument that Hamas cut off children’s heads (without) evidence, but stayed silent for the thousands of children in Gaza who were decapitated and their limbs were torn apart” by Israeli bombing.
“You Americans can stop the aggression against Gaza because it is your aggression,” he added.