Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shīʿite Islamist group Hezbollah, has warned Israel over attack on Lebanon and Gaza, saying that the scope of the current armed conflict between the Jewish nation and the Palestinian Hamas Movement is going to increase. The 63-year-old Muslim cleric recently stressed that Hezbollah would actively take part in the war, if Tel Aviv did not stop the aggression in Gaza. In that case, the war would no longer be limited to Israel and Hamas. According to Nasrallah, the ongoing conflict would turn into a regional war and become more devastating.

The Hezbollah chief has blamed the US for triggering the war between Israel and the Palestinian outfit by blindly supporting the Zionist Regime. “America is entirely responsible for the ongoing war on Gaza and its people, and Israel is simply a tool of execution,” Nasrallah said in a televised broadcast on November 3, 2023. He also called the conflict “decisive“.

Earlier, Israeli airstrikes targeting a Hezbollah base in Lebanon killed dozens of members of the Lebanese outfit. Addressing a memorial meeting, Nasrallah stressed that all possibilities were still open in West Asia. Reuters quoted him as saying: “Whoever wants to prevent a regional war – and this is addressed to the Americans – must quickly stop the aggression on Gaza. The US impedes a ceasefire and the end of the aggression.” As the Joe Biden Administration sent a US naval fleet to West Asia, the Hezbollah chief stated: “Your fleet in the Mediterranean do not scare us… we are ready to face the fleet you threaten us with. 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.” Nasrallah also warned Israel against attacking Lebanon, insisting that “all options are open on our Lebanese front“.

In the third week of October (2023), Hezbollah announced that it would provide Hamas with all sorts of support. It may be noted that the Lebanese outfit is a proxy of Iran, as the Islamic Republic sends arms and financial aid to Hezbollah on a regular basis.

The Fourth ‘H’
After Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi outfit, fighters of Iran’s Imam Hussein Brigade reached the Israel-Lebanon border in the first week of November. The local media reported that Zulfiqar, a Commander of a militia group loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was leading the Brigade.

Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-language spokesperson of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), said on November 2: “After a series of failures suffered by Hezbollah against Israel in recent weeks, the Iranian Imam Hussein Brigade, led by a commander known as Zulfiqar, has arrived in southern Lebanon. The militia has engaged in confrontation with the IDF in recent weeks along the Lebanese border.” He added: “Hezbollah and the Imam Hussein Brigade will cause Lebanon to pay a heavy price for the benefit of Hamas-ISIS. The IDF is fully prepared to respond to anyone who tries to undermine its sovereignty in the north.”

Although the Imam Hussein Brigade is not a part of the Iranian Army, Tehran trains members of this Brigade, apart from providing them with arms and financial support. In the past, the Imam Hussein Brigade had fought against Israel jointly with Hezbollah. It also has close ties with the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas. This Iran-backed Brigade had participated in the Syrian Civil War on behalf of the al-Assad Forces in the past.

Again, From Russia, ‘With Love’
Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin recently gave moral support to Hamas in mid-October (2023). Now, the Russian strongman has allowed Wagner Group, a Russian state-funded private military company, to send advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah. As per a US intelligence report, Wagner would soon send SA-22 anti-aircraft missiles to the Lebanese outfit. The Russian-made missile system, known to the Western world as Pantsir-S1, would allow Hezbollah fighters to detect the movement of Israeli fighter jets in advance with the help of a radar, making it easier for the Lebanese group to launch a counterattack.

In addition to rockets of various calibres and ranges, Hezbollah also has guided missiles at its disposal. Hezbollah acquired several missiles and rockets manufactured by the erstwhile Soviet Union and its successor, Russia. The Russian Katyusha rocket used in the Second World War and the BM-21 Grad self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union are one of Hezbollah’s strengths. Earlier, the Lebanese outfit received several versions of 107mm and 122mm multi-barrel rockets, which are portable in military trucks. Hezbollah has already used some of these missiles with a range of 11-52km against Israel.

A section of defence experts believes that if Hezbollah acquires SA-22 anti-aircraft missiles in the current situation, then it will have an advantage in countering Israeli airstrikes. It may be noted that Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un, too, recently announced that Pyongyang would soon send modern weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah. Hence, it would not be an easy affair for Israel to win the war against Hamas.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das