Israel’s massacre of civilians in Gaza, according to the second in command of Hezbollah, the potent organisation in Lebanon supported by Iran, poses a threat to a broader Middle East conflict.
Sheikh Naim Qassem informed the BBC that “very serious and very dangerous developments could occur in the region, and no-one would be able to stop the repercussions”. Speaking in a Beirut interview, the deputy head of Hezbollah was responding to reports in Gaza that Hamas-run health ministry stated that over 10,000 people had died.
Israel’s attack comes after 1,400 people were killed on October 7th by Hamas, 1,000 of them were civilians.
“The danger is real because Israel is increasing its aggression against civilians and killing more women and children. Is it possible for this to continue and increase, without bringing real danger to the region? I think not,” he said.
“Every possibility has a response,” he asserted, and Hezbollah, “the Party of God,” has plenty of options. As the largest political and military force in Lebanon, Hezbollah has responded to the conflict in Gaza thus far by stepping up its warnings but carefully gauging the consequences of its actions.
On Sunday, Hezbollah used Grad rockets for the first time in the conflict, killing an Israeli civilian. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has threatened that every civilian death in Lebanon will reap another across the border. However, he has not made any threats about an all-out war.
Although the terrorist organisation maintains that “all options are on the table,” it has limited its attacks to cross-border assaults, mostly targeting military facilities. Although it has lost more than sixty of its combatants, it still has a large number of seasoned followers to take their place. This week, a warrior buried in Beirut became the sixth generational member of his family to die in the service of Hezbollah.
The deputy commander of the group attempted to present Hezbollah as a defensive entity, despite the fact that it is dedicated to destroying Israel and started a conflict with it in 2006 when it kidnapped two of its troops during a cross-border operation.
Israel, according to Sheikh Qassem, “initiated the aggression against Gaza in a hideous way”.
He reiterated the baseless assertion that several Israeli civilians were murdered by Israeli troops, not by Hamas. But what about the Hamas fighters’ own helmet cameras, which purportedly capture them going on a murderous rampage?
He sidestepped the query. “Why don’t we look at what Israel has done inside Gaza,” he responded. “They kill civilians and demolish homes.”
Denying that the Hamas strikes had backfired, he referred to them as “a great result for the Palestinian resistance”. What about the ten thousand Gazan deaths that have transpired since then? “The massacres committed by Israel are mobilising the Palestinians more and more to cling to their land,” he responded.
Although he acknowledged that Iran “finances and supports” Hezbollah, he insisted that Iran did not issue the orders. However, analysts assert that Tehran is the one making the decisions and will choose whether or not to launch a full-scale conflict.
Hezbollah may have as many as 60,000 fighters, including regulars, special forces, and reserves, according to Nicholas Blanford, a military and security analyst based in Beirut who has spent decades researching the organisation.
