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Hezbollah Leader Responds to Killing of Hamas Deputy Chief
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Image copyright: Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Wednesday that Israel's killing of the Deputy Chief of Hamas's Political Bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut on Tuesday was a “dangerous” act that required a response. Nasrallah also said that Israel suffered a strategic defeat in the region since the Oct. 7 attack and Hezbollah is not afraid of an all-out war with Israel, adding that it is willing to fight with “no limits." Nasrallah also claimed that the US was fueling the war in Gaza and preventing a ceasefire.
Nasrallah said that the Palestinian cause had been revived and support for Hamas among Palestinians had increased. He also went on to state that Hamas acted independently and the Oct. 7 attack was "a Palestinian operation of which we were not aware," though Nasrallah did specify that he did not intend to distance Hezbollah from the attack with these comments. Nasrallah also said that the war had been "the greatest challenge" to the resistance in recent months and Hezbollah was fighting Israel on the border "with precise calculations."
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Though, of course, Israel has a right to dismantle Hamas's military capabilities and defend itself from terror, regional escalation is simply not in the interest of the US or Israel. A war with Hezbollah in Lebanon would be a disaster and likely spiral into an all-out regional war with Iran. Israel should focus on extricating Hamas from the Gaza Strip in a humane way and eliminating Hamas's leadership.
Pro-Israel narrative
Though this has been a tragic war, Israel must eliminate Hamas and restore deterrence with Iran and its proxy Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a terrorist army with far greater military capabilities than Hamas, and Israel cannot allow its citizens residing in the north to live under the constant threat of terrorist attacks. The UN resolution that ended the 2006 war with Hezbollah has failed to ensure Israel's security, and if some sort of new arrangement is not made, Israel will be forced to intervene.
Narrative C
Hezbollah will deal with Israel's belligerent and aggressive behavior at a time it deems most advantageous, as the Lebanese resistance does not just react to security incidents but makes painstaking calculations to both deter Israel from violating Lebanon's sovereignty and avoid an unnecessary and destructive escalation. Israel, backed by the US, is committing atrocious crimes in Gaza to which Hezbollah has been forced to respond.
