Hizbullah Secretary-General Nasrallah: Hizbullah Is Incapable of Launching War against Israel by Itself

In an April 6, 2015 interview with the Syria News TV channel, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said: "Are we supposed to lie to our people and ourselves, saying that we are capable of launching a war against Israel, wiping it off the map, and liberating Palestine? Hizbullah is incapable of doing this all by itself."

Following are excerpts from the interview:

Interviewer: If Hizbullah possess such power, equipment, and weapons, what prevents it from launching a real attack on Israel, opening up a new front, saying: "We are not longer a resistance today we start the attack"?

Hassan Nasrallah: We are not claiming that Hizbullah is capable of launching a war. I am not talking about the principle. You asked about capabilities. We are not claiming that we are capable of this. Indeed, we are incapable of this. Are we supposed to lie to our people and ourselves, saying that we are capable of launching a war against Israel, wiping it off the map, and liberating Palestine? Hizbullah is incapable of doing this all by itself. We have never made such claims. We are realistic.

We are forcing a real force, but we differ from the others who succumb and surrender to this force, and say that there is no alternative. We do not accept this. Nevertheless, we do not claim that the resistance in Lebanon with all its members and capabilities, can liberate Palestine from the river to the sea, for example. It is true that I spoke about [Hizbullah conquering] the Galilee… By the way, I was speaking hypothetically. I did not take an oath. I only said that this could happen. In a future war, God forbid… When I say "war," I mean Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

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When I say "war," I mean Israeli aggression against Lebanon. Yes, [conquering] the Galilee is within the capabilities of the Lebanese resistance. But as for going all the way to Tel Aviv and Eilat – well, we do not have that capability. No resistance faction can be responsible for a war of such magnitude by itself. Such a war would cause great damage throughout the region. A decision like this should be taken by partners, who are capable of accomplishing the goal behind declaring such a war.

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