Lebanese Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Wednesday that “no location” in Israel will be spared from his movement’s rockets if the Israeli Armed Forces attack Lebanon, as concerns of a wider flare-up intensify with the war in the Gaza Strip now in its 258th day.

In a live televised speech, he also threatened Cyprus, the European Union member state closest to the Middle East’s shores, for the first time, saying he has information that Israel says it will use airports and bases in Cyprus if Hezbollah attacks its airports.

Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean the Cypriot government is complicit in the war, Hassan Nasrallah has warned. Cyprus, which is about 300 km from Israel and 200 km from Lebanon, maintains good relations with both countries.

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nikos Christodoulidis stated that he heard the statements of Hezbollah’s leader and that the Republic of Cyprus is not involved in any way in the hostilities.

Cyprus is part of the solution, not the problem, underlined Mr. Christodoulidis, insisting that his country plays a role, recognized not only by the Arab world, but by the entire international community, in the creation of a maritime corridor that allows the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Since the day after the outbreak of war in the enclave, fire has been exchanged on the Israeli-Lebanese border between Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Islamist movement, and the Israeli Army. 

The day before yesterday, the Israeli Armed Forces announced that operational plans to conduct operations in Lebanon were approved, while the head of the Jewish state’s diplomacy, Israel Katz, declared that in the event of an all-out war Hezbollah would be destroyed and Lebanon would be hit hard.

With information from: APA MPA

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