Hezbollah Stronger than Ever, Nasrallah Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement Seyed Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech on Tuesday night said the movement was at its strongest shape since its foundation.
Addressing a gathering marking the end of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s arms, equipment, numbers and determination have never been stronger than now.
The conflict in 2006, also known as the July War, took place in Lebanon, northern parts of Occupied Palestine and the Golan Heights.
It started in July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on August 14 that year, though it formally ended on September 8 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon.
Nasrallah then asserted the strength of Hezbollah’s forces compared to Israel’s, Daily Star reported.
“Twelve years, and [Israel] is threatening to go to war, but at the same time [Israel] talks about the increase of the forces of the resistance and says its army is the second strongest army in the Middle East after the Israeli Army,” he said. “This is not accurate. ... Hezbollah is stronger than the Israeli Army.”
Speaking on Hezbollah’s role in Syria, where it is fighting alongside the Syrian forces against terrorist groups, Nasrallah said the group would celebrate victory "very soon." He scoffed at reports that he was planning to use the speech to announce the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from Syria.
He went on to say that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had changed his stance and has now accepted the Syrian government and its army, but is insisting on the ouster of Hezbollah and Iran from Syrian territory.