In response to a September 20, 2018 speech by Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, in which he boasted that Hizbullah has accurate missiles and that, if Israel forces Hizbullah into a war, it will be surprised to discover the extent of the organization's capabilities,[1]the Shi'ite anti-Hizbullah website janoubia.com posted an article by its columnist Muhammad Baghdadi. In the article Baghdadi addressed Nasrallah and warned him that, if another war breaks out between Hizbullah and Israel, it will bring about the complete destruction of Lebanon. He accused of Nasrallah of touting imaginary victories, and lamented that Beirut was once called "Paris of the Middle East," and now Lebanon is a backward and corrupt state controlled by Hizbullah.
The following are translated excerpts from the article.[2]
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"To Hassan Nasrallah:
"From time to time we hear Hizbullah threatening Israel that it possesses heavy weapons and long-range missiles. Here's a question: Would you have stayed in Syria if the Russian air force hadn't been there?... [Furthermore], how many infrastructures did you destroy in Israel during the [2006] war, and how much damage did Lebanon sustain?
"If a war breaks out between Hizbullah and Israel, Lebanon will be completely destroyed and you will not be able to stop Israel's jets. [Israel's] air force is the most effective of the 21st century, and it will send Lebanon 50 years back, especially considering this country's collapsing economy. [At that point,] who will rebuild South [Lebanon] and the Dahiya [Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut] and the rest of the regions? Qatar or Saudi Arabia, whom you attack on your media? The bankrupt and destroyed Syria? Or [perhaps] Iran, whose currency has collapsed and whose people are sick of you?
"What new slogan will you use to incite your people, who are suffering from social problems, [to pursue] an imaginary victory [over Israel]? In Syria, all the Iranian and Iran-supported forces have withdrawn to a distance of 180 km from the [Israeli] Golan, as the Russians claim, to provide Israel with sufficient security... [Israeli] planes bombard your positions [in Syria, and the Syrian regime blames the damage on] an electrical fault. What achievements have you made in Syria??
"Calm down, Abu Hadi [Hassan Nasrallah]... Lebanon no longer has anything to boast about except for its basketball team, which actually wins, in contrast to your false victories...
"The era of resistance against Israel has passed, [for] today you are directing your weapons at the defenseless Syrian people and at other Arab countries, both in practice and in your media [rhetoric].
"We used to be [called] Paris of the [Middle] East, and now we have become an isolated island without electricity and clean water but with corruption. We used to be a people proud of its Lebanese identity, and now we are a people bereft of basic rights, governed by the [Hizbullah] statelet."
