Hezbollah Leader: Israel Not Ready to Conflict Against Lebanon

Beirut, MINA – A senior Lebanese Hezbollah leader on Sunday said that Israel is not ready to make a conflict against Lebanon.

“I think Israel is not ready to start a conflict with Lebanon now, because the situation is complicated and Israel is not interested in war,” Sheikh Naim Qassem, speaking to Lebanese TV channels.

“But if (Israel) wants to launch a war, we are ready,” he stressed, the Times of Israel reported, quoted by MINA.

Qassem reacted to allegations made earlier the same day by Israelite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and denied that.

Netanyahu has said that Iran controled the new Lebanese government through a Hezbollah group proxy.

On Thursday, political factions in Lebanon ended a nine-month deadlock and agreed to a new government, which saw the strengthening of Hezbollah groups in the government.

Hezbollah now holds two ministries and one state ministry, including for the first time the position of Ministry of Health, which has one of the largest budgets in the country.

Ministry of Finance remains in the hands of Hezbollah allies, Ali Hassan Khalil.

Qassem said that it was a national unity government and Hezbollah only controlled three of the 31 ministries.

“We are only 10 percent,” he said. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)