Hezbollah’s rockets can hit anywhere in Israel and the Lebanese terror group is not afraid to fight Israel in another war, head Hassan Nasrallah told supporters in a fiery speech Tuesday.
Hezbollah “is fully ready in southern Lebanon,” Nasrallah said, addressing via video thousands of Lebanese Shiites commemorating the Ashura holiday in southern Beirut, Naharnet reported.
He said the group’s activities fighting in support of the Syrian regime had not affected its battle readiness.
Hezbollah’s campaigns in Syria has cost the group over 1,000 fighters,according to some reports.
“You should close all of your airports and your ports because there is no place extending on the land of occupied Palestine that the resistance’s rockets cannot reach.”
Israel knows that fighting Hezbollah “will be very costly because we are more determined, stronger, more experienced … and we are capable of achieving such accomplishments,” he continued.
Nasrallah’s televised address comes a day after he made a rare public appearance in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, addressing thousands of his supporters ahead of the Shiite Ashura commemorations.
As he appeared on stage Monday wearing a black robe and turban, the crowd seen in a live broadcast on Hezbollah’s al-Manar television began cheering wildly, as they apparently had not expected to see him.
The head of the Shiite group had not appeared in public since July when he attended a rally to show support for the Gaza Strip.
The European Union’s new foreign policy chief called for the creation of a Palestinian state within the five years of her term, announcing that the EU intends to play a more influential role in the Middle East than in the past.
“What’s important for me is not whether other countries, be they European or not, recognize Palestine,” Federica Mogherini told the European press in comments published Tuesday, referring to Sweden’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state. “I’d be happy if, during my mandate, the Palestinian state existed.”
On November 1, Mogherini succeeded Catherine Ashton as the union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
This weekend, she is scheduled to arrive in Israel and the Palestinian territories for her first official visit. During her two-day visit, she will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, President Reuven Rivlin, opposition leader Isaac Herzog and the chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. She is also expected to travel to Ramallah and the Gaza Strip, where she will meet with senior Palestinian officials.
Europe cannot eternally be a payer without playing a political role, Mogherini said in the comments. Therefore, the EU intends to adopt a broad regional approach to the Middle East, seeing a possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a wider reconciliation of the Arab world with the Jewish state, she said.
“It will, in fact, be difficult to guarantee the security for this country [Israel] without a broader framework involving Arab countries. And an overall agreement of this kind would facilitate the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue,” she said.
It is important that all 28 EU member states speak with one voice regarding the Middle East
On the other hand, she said she feels that the actors in the region “need the European Union to be present in order to make steps forward at this time of their history.”
“This might not have been the case in the past. But at this date I get the same messages from the Palestinian side, from the Israeli side, and from the key Arab countries, exactly in the same terms — we do need at this time the European Union to move forward.”
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