by Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
"We can launch dozens, if not hundreds, of missiles within only a few seconds," says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at ceremony marking 15 years since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon • Nasrallah calls al-Qaida, Islamic State an "existential threat."
Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah at Sunday's rally
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Photo credit: AP  |
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned
Sunday that the terrorist organization's efforts fighting the Islamic
State group in Syria will not distract it from conflict with Israel.
"The effort and the resources we are investing
in Syria do not take away from our preparedness for a future conflict
with our true enemy, Israel," he said during a celebration marking 15
years since Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon.
"Islamic State is not strong, we can defeat
them and send Israel a message. ... We can launch dozens, if not
hundreds, of missiles within only a few seconds."
Hezbollah also allowed Lebanese newspaper As-Safir a rare tour of its underground tunnels and outposts.
Nasrallah also said that the region is facing
"unprecedented danger" from extremist groups, and vowed his fighters
would expand their involvement in Syria's civil war in support of
government forces.
He promised to battle Sunni extremists groups
such as Islamic State and al-Qaida. He said such factions are an
"existential threat" to anyone who does not agree with their ideology.
Hezbollah openly joined Syrian President
Bashar Assad's forces in the civil war in 2013 and its fighters have
been taking part in a major battle in recent weeks against jihadis in
the Qalamoun mountain region that borders Lebanon.
"Our presence will grow whenever it is
required for us to be present," Nasrallah said, speaking after Assad's
forces suffered several defeats over the past two months, mostly in the
northwestern province of Idlib and the southern region of Daraa. The
western city of Palmyra, home to a set of historic Roman-era ruins, was
captured by Islamic State last week.
"We are present today in many places and I
tell you we will be present wherever this battle requires. We are up to
it and we are the men for it," Nasrallah said, speaking from a secret
location on a giant video screen.
Lebanon suffered its own civil war from 1975
to 1990, and officials there have warned Hezbollah against launching a
cross-border attack which they say would drag the country further into
the Syrian conflict.
Some also fear Hezbollah's offensive might
provoke Sunnis in Arsal, a Lebanese town whose people have sympathized
with the revolt against Assad and have welcomed thousands of Syrian
refugees in the past four years.
Insurgents have tried to use the town as a
base, and Nusra Front and Islamic State briefly seized it last year.
They captured dozens of Lebanese soldiers and police and took them with
them when they pulled out, later beheading and shooting four of them.
Inside Syria, a military helicopter crashed
earlier Sunday at the northern air base of Kweiras, killing all of its
crew, state TV said, as an activist group said it was shot down by
Islamic State militants.
The TV report quoted an unnamed military
official as saying that the helicopter crashed as a result of a
technical problem while taking off. The report did not say how many crew
members were onboard at the time of the crash.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said Islamic State militants who have been laying siege to the
base for months shot down the helicopter.
Kweiras military air base is in the northern
province of Aleppo and is close to the town of al-Bab, which is held by
the Islamic State group.
Islamic State posted a statement on a militant
website claiming responsibility for downing the Syrian helicopter.
Syrian rebels have shot down helicopters in the past.
Meanwhile, in Damascus, a bomb exploded Sunday
morning near the city center, killing a brigadier general and six of
his bodyguards, the Observatory said. It added that the attack was
claimed by the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group.
The Damascus media center identified the officer as Brig. Gen. Bassam Mehanna al-Ali.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that a bomb exploded in the area, without giving further details.
Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=25703
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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