Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced during a live televised speech from his secret bunker on Monday night that there were “no more red lines” in the fight against Israel.
Speaking on the occasion of a Shiite religious festival, Nasrallah said, “There is now a new operational space and it is in the skies of Lebanon. When it comes to dealing with the UAVs (drones), we will defend. I won’t specify when or how, but the time will come.
“For dozens of years, infringing on the 1948 borders has been one of the biggest red lines for the enemy,” Nasrallah said. In the past [Israel] would not tolerate anyone placing a hand on the fence, sending something like a drone back and forth quickly, firing into the air or hurling a bomb into an open area.
“Israel would respond harshly because those were red lines – but what happened yesterday is that the resistance broke what has for the past dozens of years, been the greatest Israeli red line.
“It is no longer a red line. That has ended,” Nasrallah declared.
“There are no more red lines.”
Now, the Lebanese terror chief said, “If you attack us, your borders, soldiers and settlements – including those on the border and those deep inside [Israel] – will be threatened and targeted.
“If there is any aggression against Lebanon there will be no such thing as international borders. The move that the resistance pulled off yesterday will be pulled off at any time in the future in a greater, larger and more important way.”
Most important, he said, was the impact Sunday’s attack had on Israel.
“The entire border was evacuated – you couldn’t see a single soldier on the border nor any of the tractors we saw for a time. Second, they evacuated all their forward command posts. They emptied entire bases, like Avivim, a complete evacuation. A reporter from one channel walked around there and showed how everything was empty – there was no one. Entire outposts were emptied, some of them deep inside [the country] …
“What happened is a reflection of boldness, bravery, precision and responsibility.”
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out that “the man in the bunker in Beirut knows exactly why he is in a bunker,” adding the IDF will “continue to do everything necessary to keep Israel safe.”