2022-07-14 12:17:18
Nasrallah raises the level of threats against Israel regarding the "Karish" offshore gas field but is careful not to overstep
Last night, Nasrallah delivered an important 62-minute-long speech, continuing with the same line in his previous speech regarding the issue of Israeli gas production from the "Karish" offshore gas field and negotiations over the maritime border demarcation.
Tonight he was more pompous, raising the level of his threats but remaining within the framework he outlined in his previous speech.
Nasrallah devoted the first half of his speech to Biden's visit to the region and Israeli Defense Minister Gantz's threats from June 22:
Nasrallah noted that the main thing that prompted Biden to come to the Middle East was the gas and oil crisis (highlighting the importance of the ongoing maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon and the contested natural gas fields around it). Nasrallah noted President Biden's old age, figure, and movements, claiming they symbolize America's current global status as a has-been superpower, and not the same America from 20 years ago.
Nasrallah then referred to Gantz's threat, in which he said "if necessary, we (Israel - Abu Ali) will march once again to Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon...". Nasrallah claimed that the people of Lebanon mocked this threat, seeing the IDF's last operation in the Gaza Strip (Tzuk Eitan, lit. 'Operation Strong Cliff') in which Hamas kidnapped two of its soldiers. Nasrallah asserted that Israel no longer plans on a ground invasion, even in the besieged Gaza Strip let alone into Lebanon, calling it "unrealistic". Nasrallah added that the IDF's recent "Chariots of Fire" military exercise didn't include a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip but focused on aerial attacks alone. He then offered to remind Gantz what happened when Israel tried to enter the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil in the last days of the Second Lebanon War.
In the second part of the speech, Nasrallah focused extensively on the issue of Israeli gas production from the "Karish" offshore gas field, and negotiations over the maritime border demarcation:
First, Nasrallah sets a time frame of two months, which he sees as Lebanon's window of opportunity for these negotiations. Nasrallah reasons that after these two months, Israel will start producing gas from the "Karish" gas field, which will make negotiations much more difficult and complex for the Lebanese side.
At this point, which in my view is central to the speech, Nasrallah emphasizes his position from his previous speech:
The State of Lebanon is in charge of demarcating its borders with Israel. It negotiates, and it has the final say. Hezbollah will not interfere and is not involved in the negotiations. However, Hezbollah is using its military force to strengthen the Lebanese position in its negotiations with Israel.
According to him, this is why Hezbollah launched UAVs at "Karish". Nasrallah claims that it led to changes in the American and Israeli positions and made them understand that Hezbollah is "serious with its intentions", adding that Hezbollah will be happy to continue serving the Lebanese government in this way.
At this point, Nasrallah said something quite interesting and notable regarding the negotiations with Israel: "Good progress has been made, but it's not enough". It's not every day that Nasrallah says such things about negotiations with Israel.
Nasrallah announced that Hezbollah will take every step it sees fit to assist Lebanon in the negotiations, stating that the launch of the UAVs was only the beginning, noting that this was the first time in history that three UAVs have been launched at Israel simultaneously.
He also mentioned that Hezbollah wanted Israel to shoot down the UAVs it had launched at the "Karish" offshore gas rig so that the people working on the rig would understand and see that they were in an unsafe area.
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