Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared the United States responsible for the war in Gaza in a Wednesday speech, vowing retaliation for the killing of a top Hamas official in Beirut, Saleh al-Arouri, as several Western governments urged their citizens to leave Lebanon.
In a direct threat to Israel against expanding the war into Lebanon, Nasrallah threatened an unprecedented response. “If the enemy thinks about waging war against Lebanon, then our fighting will be with no ceiling, with no limits, with no rules. And they know what I mean,” he said. “We are not afraid of war. We don’t fear it. We are not hesitant. If we were, we would have stopped at the front.”
The Hezbollah leader fired his harshest criticism at the United States, saying that Gaza's war is as much Israel's as it is America's. “Who is doing the killing in Gaza is the American [administration] and the American decision and the American policy and the American missile and the American bomb,” he said.
Nasrallah delivered his message while commemorating the death of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, one day after a suspected Israeli strike that killed Arouri in Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.
The "major crime will not stay without a response and punishment," he said, without specifying a time or date for retaliation.
Nasrallah praised “resistance” actions in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, the West Bank and Gaza.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have attacked US forces in their country and neighboring Syria more than 100 times in response to the Israel-Hamas war, while the Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea and fired missiles toward Israel.
Nasrallah especially praised the Houthis' role in the conflict, calling the actions in the Red Sea a “brave and magnificent step.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has been striking Israeli positions near the Lebanon-Israel border since the war began, including several attacks on Wednesday following Arouri’s death, but has refrained from launching an all-out attack on its southern neighbor.
The Hezbollah leader addressed Israel's efforts to normalize relations with Arab states, saying Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel resulted in "striking the normalization path between some Arab regimes and the occupation entity."
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established relations with Israel in 2020, and Saudi Arabia was considering doing the same before the war.
Germany, Canada urge citizens to leave
Nasrallah's speech and the escalating tension on the Israel-Lebanon border prompted more governments to urge their citizens to depart from Lebanon. On Wednesday in a statement on X, the German Foreign Ministry called on all Germans in Lebanon to "leave the country as quickly as possible.”
Canadians in #Lebanon: Explosions caused by suspected drone strikes occurred in the Dahiyeh district of #Beirut. If you are there, be extremely vigilant and aware of your surroundings. More info here: https://t.co/xrr0rkQYSj pic.twitter.com/ZDvHQhFvkh
— Travel.gc.ca (@TravelGoC) January 3, 2024
In a Wednesday update, the Canadian government said Arouri’s killing “could lead to an escalation of hostilities in Lebanon” and reiterated its call for Canadians to exit the country. Canada has been advising its citizens to leave Lebanon since October.
The United States and Sweden also reminded their citizens to get out of Lebanon. White House senior aide Amos Hochstein will travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss the escalation with Lebanon as the Biden administration intensifies its efforts to avoid a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah.
