In a videotaped speech on February 16, 2021, marking Hizbullah’s “Martyred Leaders Day” on February 16, 2021, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel against the concept of limited “Battle Days.” “No one can guarantee that it won’t develop into a general war,” cautioned the Hizbullah leader. He also referred to threats by Israel Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, to attack with force any residential area or civilian facility in which Hizbullah stores missiles and rockets or from which projectiles are launched at Israel.
Nasrallah declared, “If you attack our towns and civilians, we’ll attack yours. We will take part in any confrontation imposed on us and I say it clearly: bombing cities for bombing cities and bombing settlements for bombing villages…. You are an army state, so there’s no distinction whatsoever between Israeli soldiers and civilians.”1
Nasrallah warned Israel “to stop playing with fire. We are in a new era…. Israel must recognize the limits of its power. Gone are the days when Israel would threaten, and the other side was silent. Should war erupt, Israelis will face incidents not witnessed since the establishment of Israel in 1948.”2
It should be noted that as early as the end of October 2020, when Israel concluded its “Lethal Arrow” drill, Hizbullah made it clear that it opposed Israel’s concept of “limited battle days,” which by their scale, they perceived as an all-out war, and, therefore, à la guerre comme à la guerre.3 Hizbullah put its forces in Lebanon and Syria on high alert and vowed it would achieve its goals by all means at its disposal.
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