Hezbollah chief says Cyprus will be attacked if it allows Israel to use its territory to attack Lebanon – Firstpost

The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has warned Cyprus if the European island nation allows Israel to use its territory to attack Lebanon. In a recent message, the militant group’s leader warned that a large-scale Israeli offensive against the militia would lead to a war “without rules or borders.”

In view of the growing tensions in the Middle East, Cyprus and Israel have signed a bilateral defense cooperation agreement under which both countries conduct joint military exercises in the region.

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to attack Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” Nasrallah said in a televised address on Wednesday.

This is the first time that the Hezbollah leader has threatened Cyprus. What complicates matters is the fact that Cyprus is a member of the European Union and any conflict with the island state could drag the regional entity into war.

Cyprus reacts

Shortly after the warning was issued, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides responded sternly to the matter. “Cyprus stays out of military conflicts and positions itself as part of the solution and not part of the problem,” Christodoulides asserted.

He also pointed to his country’s humanitarian role in the Middle East by allowing the opening of a maritime corridor to transport urgently needed aid to Gaza. “Our humanitarian corridor is a testament to our commitment to peace and stability,” he told reporters at a graduation ceremony at the University of Cyprus. The guard reported.

“Such statements are not pleasant, but they do not reflect reality. Cyprus is not involved in any military conflict,” he added. The Cypriot president stressed that the threat was made through diplomatic channels.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah

Nasrallah’s comments came a day after Israeli generals said they were planning a major offensive against the Lebanese militant group, with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz saying the country was close to deciding whether to expand the war.

A day before Nasrallah’s warning, Hezbollah released a nine-minute drone video showing civilian and military sites in and around Haifa, one of Israel’s largest cities.

In his statement, the militia chief boasted of his group’s ability to gather intelligence. “The enemy knows that no place in the entire (state) is safe from our rockets, and this will not happen arbitrarily. Everything will be targeted,” Nasrallah said in his speech.

“We have hours of footage of Haifa, of the outskirts of Haifa and of what is coming to Haifa and what is coming after Haifa,” he added, referring to the group’s slogan when it first aimed a rocket at the Israeli city in 2006.

Meanwhile, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav called the video “psychological terror” and called for a protection plan for his city. He criticized Israeli commanders for not visiting Haifa since the October 7 Hamas attack.

“I demand that the government present a plan for the massive defense of Haifa and find a military solution to eliminate the threat from the north,” Yahav told the Israeli radio station. Reshet bet.

With inputs from the agencies.

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