Hezbollah chief refuses comment on infiltration into Israel

AP , Wednesday 22 Mar 2023

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group refused to comment directly Wednesday on last week’s killing of a man suspected of entering Israel from Lebanon. He said the group's silence is part of a psychological war.

An image grab from Hezbollah s al-Manar TV on March 22, 2023, shows the head of the Lebanese Shiite
An image grab from Hezbollah s al-Manar TV on March 22, 2023, shows the head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, delivering a televised speech. - Nasrallah refused to say on March 22 whether the Iran-backed group was linked to a security incident in Israel that saw the army kill a suspect wearing an explosive belt last week. AFP

 

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah refused to say whether his group had anything to do with the attacker, who was carrying explosives and was killed dozens of kilometers (miles) south of the border with Lebanon.

Last week, the Israeli occupation army said soldiers killed an armed man suspected of entering the country from Lebanon and blowing up a car, raising the risk of renewed tensions with Hezbollah.

The incident unnerved Israelis, who questioned on social media and elsewhere how someone with explosives could travel dozens of kilometers inside Israel and set off a roadside bomb before being detected.

“Our silence is part of the psychological, media and military battle with the enemy,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech adding that it is not Hezbollah’s responsibility to respond to what “is confusing the enemy.”

“Sometimes our answer is by not commenting on the incident,” he added. Responding to Israeli threats that if Hezbollah turns out to be responsible, Israel will retaliate against the group, Nasrallah said: “Go to hell.”

There was no immediate response to Nasrallah's comments from the Israeli military. The occupation army this week said it had determined how the man crossed the border. But it gave no details, saying only that it had ruled out a tunnel infiltration. It says the incident is still under investigation.

The Lebanon-Israel border has remained quiet but tense since the 34-day Israeli war against Lebanon in 2006 that ended with a draw.

Commenting on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said in Paris that the notion of a Palestinian people was artificial, Nasrallah said it seems that the Israeli official “does not know history.”

Short link: