TEHRAN- Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has played down Israel’s threats of waging a full-scale war against the Lebanese resistance group.

 Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has played down Israel’s threats of waging a full-scale war against the Lebanese resistance group.

Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate senior Hezbollah commander Taleb Abdullah as well as three other resistance fighters who were martyred in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon over a week ago, the Hezbollah leader said Israel can only talk about waging such a war but is incapable of conducting it.

Nasrallah added that Hezbollah does not want a “total war” with Israel but issued a warning in the face of such a scenario. 

He said Israel must prepare for attacks from the ground, air and sea, and that the “situation in the Mediterranean will change completely” if it decides to get engaged in a full-blown conflict with Lebanon. 

The Hezbollah chief warned that “no place” in Israel would be spared from the resistance group’s weapons in case of a direct war. He said Hezbollah would fight with “no rules” and “no ceilings”.

 He noted that the resistance group carries out attacks against the regime to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 

“We will continue to support Gaza and we are ready for anything. We are not afraid. Our demand is clear: A complete and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire since October 8, the day after Israel declared war on Gaza following a surprise military operation conducted by Hamas in southern Israel. 

Hezbollah has reiterated that it won’t stop its attacks against Israel unless the regime ends the war of genocide on Gaza which has so far claimed the lives of some 37,400 Palestinians. 

Israel has repeatedly warned that it will go to direct war with Hezbollah if it continues attacks against the regime. 

The latest of such threats were made by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

“We are getting very close to the moment of deciding to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed, and Lebanon severely beaten,” Katz claimed on X on Tuesday. 

His threat came after Hezbollah released footage showing its reconnaissance drones flying over sensitive Israeli sites in areas such as Haifa port. 

Hezbollah said the drones bypassed Israeli air defenses and returned to Lebanese airspace without being detected.

The footage captured by the Hezbollah drones stole the limelight at major news outlets. 

Analysts have said the move has exposed Israel’s vulnerability and humiliated the regime. 

Further in his remarks, Nasrallah said the footage is just a short and selected excerpt from long hours of recorded videos captured above Haifa. 

The Hezbollah leader added that Israeli leaders are not willing to admit the magnitude of the military and economic damage they have received at the hands of Hezbollah resistance fighters.

Nasrallah also said the number of Hezbollah operatives who are ready to join the war has exceeded 100,000.

The Hezbollah chief also threw a spotlight on Israel’s failure to achieve its military goals in Gaza. 

Israel claims to be the strongest army in West Asia but has failed to defeat Hamas, he said. 

Since declaring war on Gaza on October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to achieve “total victory” over Hamas and “destroy” the resistance group.

Netanyahu’s dreams have so far remained elusive as Hamas has put up resistance against Israeli forces and dealt severe blows to the regime in the Gaza battlefield.