Hezbollah will stop attacks on Israel only when fighting in Gaza ceases

(Patria) - Pro-Iranian Hezbollah will cease attacks on Israel only if a ceasefire is agreed upon in the Gaza Strip, its leader said, accusing foreign mediators trying to de-escalate tensions in southern Lebanon of serving Israel's interests.

- When the aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and a ceasefire is declared, the shooting in southern Lebanon will also stop - said Hassan Nasrallah in a televised address.

If they expand the conflict, we will too, he said, responding to repeated threats from Israeli officials to go to war with Lebanon.

Since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, which led to the war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli military positions on the border.

Israel regularly bombs southern Lebanon and attacks Hezbollah officials. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced due to the violence.

Nasrallah warned that if Israel provokes a war with Lebanon, the displaced from northern Israel will not return and that the authorities should prepare shelters, hotels, schools, and tents for two million displaced people from northern Israel.

He also criticized foreign envoys who have been visiting Beirut to reduce tensions.

- All delegations that have come to Lebanon in the last four months have had only one goal: to protect Israel - claims Nasrallah.

The French plan, according to diplomatic sources, envisages a cessation of violence on both sides of the border and the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters 10 to 12 kilometers north of the border.

- Let no one think that Lebanon is weak, that it is afraid, and that conditions can be imposed on us, seven or ten kilometers - Nasrallah stated.

In more than four months, at least 243 people, including 175 Hezbollah fighters and 30 civilians, have been killed in southern Lebanon, according to AFP data. On the Israeli side, 15 people have been killed, according to army data.