Hezbollah chief praises ‘heroic’ Hamas attacks but does not commit to joining war

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah praised the deadly Hamas raids of 7 October but stopped short of suggesting his faction could join the war against Israel in his first speech since the start of the current conflict.

Nasrallah described the Hamas operation as “heroic, brave, creative, great attack that we celebrate” that he said had “created an earthquake within the Israeli government.”

But the Lebanese militant leader denied that his group or any other had played a part in the attacks that killed an estimated 1,400 civilians and soldiers.

In a speech broadcast on public screens in Lebanese cities to mass audiences, Mr Nasrallah said: “This operation was made purely in Palestine, the decision and the execution was done 100 per cent in Palestine, and it was hidden… even from resistance factions in Palestine and in other countries of the Resistance Axis.”

The axis refers to the Iran-led alliance that includes Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis of Yemen – all of which are engaged in conflict with Israel at different levels.

Nasrallah gave little indication that his faction could join the war in support of Hamas – having previously fought a war against Israel in 2006 – a concern of Western security analysts after daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel across the Israel-Lebanon border.

A boy waves the Hezbollah party flag during a rally in Lebanese capital Beirut prior to Nasrallah’s speech (Photo: AFP/Getty)

The Hezbollah chief also praised the “martyrs” killed in the war and said Israel’s operation in Gaza would fail.

“Despite all of this killing and this destruction, it was unable to touch the resistance and this is why they started their land invasion,” he said.

Nasrallah said he was facing pressure to more fully commit to joining Hamas’s war against Israel but defended his record by claiming that Hezbollah “entered the battle” on 8 October, when cross-border exchanges with fire with Israel began.

He said that Hezbollah’s operations “stretch over the entire borders of Lebanon with occupied Palestine”, and that while what is happening on the borders might look like “humble actions” they were “very impactful”.

The militant leader also hinted at plans to expand the conflict without committing to do so. “We’re not going to be satisfied with that alone,” he said.

Israel on Friday said it was on “very, very high alert” on the Lebanese border, after the militant group claimed to have launched 19 consecutive strikes on Israel on Thursday.

Dozens of Hezbollah fighters have been killed in cross-border clashes since 8 October and at least six Israelis.

Tobias Schneider, a Middle East analyst at the Global Public Policy Institute, a German think tank, said the Hezbollah leader’s speech was carefully calibrated.

“A speech crafted to avoid committing Hezbollah or allies to any action over Gaza — for now,” he said. “Implicitly distinguishes the local and the regional equation. But such volatile constructs can easily collapse as (Israel’s) offensive advances and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps pressure campaign accelerates.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Friday dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that US intelligence believed Russia’s Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Hezbollah with an air defence system, saying such talk was unfounded.

“We have already said that, de-facto, such a group [Wagner] does not exist,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the report, which cited unidentified US officials.

The WSJ said Wagner planned to supply the Pantsir-S1 system, known by Nato as the SA-22, via Syria. The system uses anti-aircraft missiles and air-defence guns to intercept aircraft. US officials are reportedly monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah.