Hizbullah-Affiliated Journalist Ibrahim Al-Amine: Israel Has Not Initiated Anything In This War; If We Do Not Carry Out Operations, Israel Does Not Shoot A Single Bullet

Hizbullah-affiliated journalist Ibrahim Al-Amine, the editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar, said in a May 19, 2024 interview on Al-Jadeed TV (Lebanon) that it is Hizbullah that initiated and expanded the war with Israel. He said that Israel has not initiated anything since October 7, and it is only responding to Hizbullah's operations. Al-Amine continued to say that this war is not serving Israel and that Israel is in a “real crisis,” citing Israel's growing internally displaced refugee problem. He said that it is not that Israel doesn't want to remove the threat of Hizbullah, rather it is a question of whether it is capable of doing so.

Interviewer: "Israel relies on [Hizbullah] expanding the war. We have recently seen that the fighting has expanded..."

Ibrahim Al-Amine: "We were the ones who expanded the fighting.

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"Some people think that saying this puts the responsibility on the resistance. Israel has not initiated anything in this war. Since October 7, we are the ones who decide how the war is going to be."

Interviewer: "How come?"

Al-Amine: "We have decided on the operations. If we do not carry out operations, Israel does nothing. It does not shoot a single bullet."

Interviewer: "What are you telling me?"

Al-Amine: "We are running the war in our southern [border]."

Interviewer: "Dd we start driving out the people [of south Lebanon], and caused all the destruction on our southern border?

Al-Amine: "No, no..."

Interviewer: "All this is serving Israel and tis attempt to create a security belt..."

Al-Amine: "It does not serve Israel. Israel is in a real crisis. On May 23, you will see the first camp for Israeli refugees. Nobody imagined this would happen. It will happen north of Haifa. Look, it is not that Israel does not want war and does not want to eliminate the resistance. It is not that Israel does want to get rid of this threat. Wanting something is one thing, and the ability to do it is another. It is like we are saying that if we can get rid of Israel in its entirety, we will. Are we capable of doing this? We will have to wait and see."