Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah leader threatens escalation with Israel as war with Hamas rages on
LA TimesHezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah greets his supporters via video link, during a rally Friday in Beirut to commemorate Hezbollah fighters killed in South Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that his powerful militia is already engaged in unprecedented fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border and threatened a further escalation as Israel’s war with Hamas nears the one-month mark. In televised remarks — his first since the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel — Nasrallah stopped short of announcing that Hezbollah would fully enter the war, a move that would have devastating consequences for both Lebanon and Israel. The United States, Israel’s strongest backer, has warned Hezbollah and its patron Iran against entering the fray and has sent warships to the Mediterranean, a move Nasrallah said “will not scare us.” Hezbollah is prepared for all options, he declared, “and we can resort to them at any time.” The fighting would “not be limited” to the scale seen so far, he added. “We already entered the battle on Oct. 8.” He argued that Hezbollah’s cross-border strikes have pulled away Israeli forces that would otherwise be focused on Hamas in Gaza.