Pro-Hizbullah Lebanese Journalist Rafiq Nasrallah: Hizbullah Can Deliver Aerial Strikes in Israel

In a recent TV interview, Lebanese journalist and researcher Rafiq Nasrallah suggested a scenario in which Hizbullah fighters entered the Upper Galilee and fought inside Israel. "What if airplanes were to strike in the heart of Israel and at the settlements?" he asked. "What would the [Israeli] air force be able to do then?" Nasrallah, Director of the Lebanese International Center for Media and Research, said that "even those little reconnaissance aircrafts are being manufactured now by Hizbullah and in Syria" and that they "can strike targets and broadcast it on TV in real time." The interview aired on the Lebanese Al-Jadid/New TV channel on May 23.

Interviewer: Wars today are waged from the sky, and you cannot do anything unless you possess deterrence capabilities.

Rafiq Nasrallah: That is what Israel says. But what does the other side say? What does Hizbullah say? What if the confrontations were to take place in the Galilee? Let's imagine a scenario in which groups of 50 infiltration fighters each - you can call them martyrdom-seekers... Let's imagine that these groups were to enter Metula and other settlements inside Israel, and then TV would start broadcasting the scenes from inside Israel, for the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict... Note that I am raising my finger... From inside the Upper Galilee, from the Jordanian border, and facing the Golan... What would the Israelis do? What would their air force be able to do then? Secondly, the Israeli air force cannot do whatever it wants in the sky anymore. If they send a plane, we will send one too. Even those little reconnaissance aircrafts are being manufactured now by Hizbullah and in Syria.

Interviewer: Yes, but you are talking about F-16 and F-29 [sic] airplanes here...

Rafiq Nasrallah: They are good for striking specific targets, such as homes and bridges. But what if airplanes were to strike in the heart of Israel and at the settlements? And what if missiles were launched...

Interviewer: Does Hizbullah have airplanes?

Rafiq Nasrallah: Of course.

Interviewer: It has reconnaissance aircrafts, but not airplanes...

Rafiq Nasrallah: What does everybody rely on these days?

Interviewer: On what?

Rafiq Nasrallah: They rely on reconnaissance aircrafts. They can strike targets and broadcast it on TV in real time. The concepts of war have changed. We have technology now.

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