‘Assad gave us rockets to fire at Israel,’ Nasrallah says
Hezbollah leader says Israel ‘happy’ at deaths of senior Assad officials in Wednesday bombing
The Assad regime provided Hezbollah and Hamas with the rockets fired at Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and thereafter, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday. He also vowed to unleash a “new surprise” on Israel should it strike Lebanon.
Nasrallah made no mention of Wednesday’s terror attack an a bus filled with Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian city of Bourgas. Israeli leaders were quick to blame Iran and its proxy Hezbollah for the attack, which killed seven people and wounded over 30. The Hezbollah leader did, however, mention Israel in relation to a bombing in Damascus Wednesday that saw three of Bashar Assad’s closest confidante’s assassinated.
Nasrallah addressed a crowd of supporters gathered in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut via video feed on the sixth anniversary of what his organization regards as its victory over Israel in the Second Lebanon War.
The Hezbollah chief, speaking from a bunker, came out as more pro-Assad than ever, praising the Syrian regime for its support of the Palestinian cause.
“Who gave [Hamas] the rockets? The Saudis? The Egyptians? No. They were rockets from Syria and they were transferred through Syria. The Syrian leadership was risking its interests and existence in order for the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine to be strong,” he said.
Nasrallah remarked that the three members of President Bashar Assad’s inner circle who were killed in Wednesday’s bombing in Damascus were proponents of the “resistance” against Israel.
“Today Israel is happy about what happened in Syria, and justifiably so,” Nasrallah charged, adding that Israel does not want a strong Syria.
Nasrallah claimed that Israel was still traumatized by the war, and he assured his supporters that “there are people working day and night on the resistance to the enemy.”
“My war is with the Israelis, my struggle is with the Israelis,” he said. Nonetheless, Nasrallah urged his followers to “stay calm. [Israel will] try to provoke you to bring strife. Practice maximum restraint.”
