Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers
by Susan Katz Keating
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday praised the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and threatened to escalate his own terror group’s actions against its neighbor.
“It was a meticulous attack that we celebrate at the highest level,” said Hassan Nasrallah in a widely anticipated speech. He made his remarks via television from Beirut.
READ MORE: Hamas Attack Has Galvanized Other Terrorist Groups, Top US Security Officials Say
Hezbollah is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and a political party based in Lebanon. The group wants Israel to be destroyed, and engages in terrorist attacks and criminal activities, including drug trafficking, around the world. The group advocates Shiite revolutionary ideology.
In his Nov. 3 speech, Nasrallah attempted to taunt Israel for being supported by the United States; but the terror group leader did not reference his own group nor Hamas taking guidance and support from Iran.
Nasrallah said that since October 7, Hezbollah fighters have engaged in unprecedented cross-border fighting with Israel, and have distracted Israel Defense Forces and drawn them to the border with Lebanon. He claimed also that significant portions of Israel’s famed Iron Dome air defense system have been redirected toward Lebanon.
Nasrallah said that the fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border would “not be limited” to the scale seen until now. He stopped short of announcing that Hezbollah is fully engaged in war against Israel.
The U.S. for more than a decade has noted the scope of weapons that Hezbollah controls.
“We are now at the point where Hezbollah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world,” said then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2010. Since that time, the arsenal has grown, according to U.S. officials.
Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor in chief of Soldier of Fortune.
