Hamas attack laid bare 'total fragility of Israel', says Hezbollah leader

The leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah praised "the glorious operation" carried out by Hamas in Israel during a highly anticipated speech on Friday, the Guardian reports.

Hassan Nasrallah addressed his followers on Friday in his first public comments since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged artillery and rocket fire along the Lebanon-Israel border in recent weeks, raising fears that the area could become another front in the conflict.

Nasrallah's speech had been expected to indicate whether Hezbollah would escalate the fighting. He said developments in Gaza would determine whether there would be an escalation in Lebanon, saying "all scenarios are open on our Lebanese southern front", according to the Guardian. “We can adopt any option at any time,” he said.

The Israeli army had said earlier on Friday that it was on "very high alert" on its border with Lebanon.

Nasrallah said the Hamas attack on 7 October had exposed "the frailty, weakness and total fragility of Israel", which is "more fragile than a spider's web".

“This glorious, seismic operation has caused an earthquake in terms of security, military, politics, diplomacy and even psychologically,” he said. “It will have profound strategic repercussions.”

At the same time, he denied that Hezbollah was in any way involved in the 7 October attack on Israel, saying it was "100 per cent Palestinian". Nasrallah said Israel's bombardment of Gaza had revealed its "impotence and stupidity", targeting mosques and churches while the world stood by and watched.

^{A girl holds up a sign depicting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during an anti-Israel rally in Nabatieh, Lebanon on 13 October 2023 © PHOTO MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP}