Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warned on Saturday night that recent clashes with Israel are a "very dangerous development" which has not happened since the Second Lebanon War, a day after Hezbollah fired about 20 rockets towards Israel and the IDF responded with 40 artillery shells towards open areas in southern Lebanon.
Nasrallah delivered the speech, announced days before the rocket fire, on the 15th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War.
The Hezbollah leader stated that the rockets fired by the terrorist group were in response to what he called the first direct Israeli raids on southern Lebanon in the past 15 years, adding that Hezbollah targeted open areas because Israel targeted open areas in its strikes in Lebanon.
Nasrallah added that Hezbollah "intended by the process to reinforce the old rules of engagement, and did not mean to create new rules of engagement." Nasrallah warned that any new Israeli raid on Lebanon would be responded to "appropriately and proportionately."
Despite the worsening economic crisis in Lebanon, Nasrallah warned Israel against thinking that Hezbollah is preoccupied with Lebanon's internal situation. "For us, our responsibilities are clear, which is to protect our people," said Nasrallah.
Nasrallah also referred to alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria, saying that the airstrikes are meant to confront the "growing capabilities of the resistance," but stressed that these strikes did not achieve their goals.
Nasrallah warned that the rocket fire on Friday was only a response to the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and not a response for the death of the Hezbollah militant in Syria nor a response to the death of a Hezbollah militant who attempted to cross the border into Israel in protests during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May. He warned that the response for those deaths would occur at an appropriate time
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