Hezbollah members
A member of Hezbollah’s Executive Council slammed Israel this past week, claiming that tensions over Al-Aqsa Mosque will not go “unanswered.” The comments were printed in Iranian media that are close to the regime, indicating Tehran’s support for Hezbollah’s threats. They were made by Hassan al-Baghdadi, a US-designated terrorist who is a Hezbollah official.
According to the Fars News reports, Baghdadi claimed that Israel’s “attacks” on Muslim worshipers were a “clear violation of Muslim sanctities and feelings.” Al-Manar, the Hezbollah media channel, also reported the comments. The claim is that Hezbollah believes this aggression could not go unanswered.
The article in Iranian media does not provide more details of Hezbollah’s threats but does reference the upcoming elections in Lebanon.
The goal here is to try to use tensions with Israel to increase support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is because the terror group knows that recent comments by factions in Lebanon opposed to Hezbollah suggest they could perform well in upcoming elections.
The article also references other condemnations of Israel that have come from Amman.
Hezbollah has long wanted to channel wider regional anger about Israel into its specifically Iranian-backed messaging. This is because Tehran is not always able to fully piggy-back on the wider Palestinian movement. Iran seeks to use Palestinians against Israel and often uses Hezbollah as a proxy in these actions.
Hezbollah has claimed that Israel continues to “occupy” Lebanon, thus justifying Hezbollah’s “resistance.” Iran describes its various militias in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen as an “axis of resistance.”
Hezbollah wants to use the last days of Ramadan to increase tensions with the Jewish state. It hopes that Iranian-backed groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad will join it in increasing tensions.
Source: Jerusalem Post