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In a high-stakes speech, Hezbollah’s leader stops short of calling to expand the Israeli-Hamas war. Image
In a high-stakes speech, Hezbollah’s leader stops short of calling to expand the Israeli-Hamas war. Image

Supporters wave flags and watch a screen showing the speech of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s.
Iranians watch a speech by Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday in Tehran.Credit...Vahid Salemi/Associated Press
Ben Hubbard
By Ben Hubbard
Nov. 3, 2023, 2:05 p.m. ET
Since the war in Gaza began after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, people across the Middle East have feared it could set off a second war between Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militia, and ignite a broader regional conflagration.

That is not Hezbollah’s plan, the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a widely anticipated address to his followers on Friday, his first public remarks since the start of the war.

Hezbollah, he said, was already doing what it set out to do: exchanging fire with a portion of Israel’s military to keep it tied up along the northern border with Lebanon, reducing the burden on Hamas.

“The Lebanese front has lessened a large part of the forces that were going to escalate the attack on Gaza,” Mr. Nasrallah said. “Some in Lebanon say that we are taking a risk, it’s true. But this risk is part of a beneficial, correct calculation.”

Israel and Hezbollah have clashed repeatedly along the Israel-Lebanon border since the war began, targeting each other’s positions and killing combatants on both sides. Mr. Nasrallah’s address, which lasted more than an hour and repeatedly erupted into fiery crescendos, was far from a call for peace.

But it fit with analysts’ assessment that Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be calibrating their actions to avoid setting off a broader war. Mr. Nasrallah described Hezbollah’s objective as a controlled battle along the border aimed at sapping Israel’s morale and resources.

ISRAEL HAMASRead the full article on the Hezbollah leader’s first public comments since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7.
Ben Hubbard is the Istanbul bureau chief. He has spent more than a dozen years in the Arab world, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. He is the author of “MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman.” More about Ben Hubbard

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Taken on: November 3, 2023
Sets appears in:   • November 2023 In Photos    • Israel At War \|/ October 2023   
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