Hezbollah threatens to capture the Galilee and ‘beyond’

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah threatened in an interview Thursday to retaliate against Israel for repeated alleged strikes on Syria and said he has missiles that can hit the Jewish state. He also said members of his group were prepared to occupy the Galilee and even territory “beyond the Galilee.”

Nasrallah told Al-Mayadeen television that his powerful Shiite movement has had Iranian Fateh-110 missiles that can hit the whole of Israel since 2006, adding that it is always ready to fight Israel.

A key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Nasrallah, who has sent thousands of fighters into Syria to help defend the regime, said that alleged Israeli strikes on Syria “target the whole of the resistance axis,” which includes Hezbollah, Damascus and Tehran.

“The repeated bombings that struck several targets in Syria are a major violation, and we consider that any strike against Syria is a strike against the whole of the resistance axis, not just against Syria,” he told the Beirut-based Arab news television.

“The axis is capable of responding. This can happen any time.”

Asked about Hezbollah’s arsenal, Nasrallah said the group had “all (the weapons) you can imagine… and in great quantities.”

He added: “We are now stronger than we ever were as a resistance movement.”

Nasrallah revealed that Hezbollah has Fateh-110 missiles, which have a minimum range of 200 kilometers (125 miles) and can hit the whole of Israel.

Asked by his interviewer about this type of missile, Nasrallah said: “We have had this kind of missile since 2006” — when Israel and Hezbollah battled in the Second Lebanon War.

According to Pentagon officials, Hezbollah has 50,000 missiles, including some capable of reaching Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Air Force has allegedly carried out several raids against targets in Syria, including depots storing weapons meant for Hezbollah, since the conflict there started nearly four years ago. .

The most recent strike was in December, when Israeli warplanes struck weapons warehouses near Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Israel has never confirmed it carried out the strikes, but it says it has a policy of preventing arms transfers to terrorist groups including Hezbollah.

Israeli media said, however, after the December strikes that the air force had targeted arms convoys or depots of Iranian-made rockets.

Nasrallah said in the interview that Hezbollah was ready to fight a new war against Israel in Lebanon and renewed a threat to invade the Galilee region of northern Israel.

Hezbollah fighters “must be prepared,” he said.

“When the resistance (Hezbollah) leadership… asks you (fighters)… to enter into Galilee, that means the resistance must be ready to enter into Galilee and to go even beyond the Galilee.”