Hezbollah's Nasrallah warns Cyprus over opening airports to Israel if Lebanon war begins

Hezbollah chief says group would fight 'without limits' if conflict begins

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has warned Cyprus against allowing Israel to use its airports if an all-out war between Israeli forces and the Lebanese group broke out.

“The opening of Cypriot airports and bases to Israel to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is involved in the war,” Mr Nasrallah said in a speech to mark the death of a senior Hezbollah and three fighters last week.

He said that Israel carried out annual military exercises in Cyprus.

Mr Nasrallah promised that Hezbollah would fight “without limits” and “on land, in the air and at sea” against Israel in the event of a total war.

Hezbollah would consider itself at war with Cyprus if it allowed Israel to use its airports, he said.

Cyprus is not known to offer any land or base facilities to the Israeli military, but has in the past allowed Israel to use its vast airspace – its flight information region (FIR) – to occasionally conduct air drills, but never during conflict.

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been engaged in daily exchanges of fire across the Lebanese border since October 8, after the Lebanese group opened a front in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.

In recent weeks, the fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border has increased in intensity, leading to fears that an all-out war would break out.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said that Hezbollah would be destroyed in the event of a “total war” between the two, while the military has approved plans for an assault on the country.

While Mr Nasrallah reiterated that Hezbollah did not want a full-on war, he said the Lebanese armed group and political party was ready if one became inevitable.

Mr Nasrallah said attacking Israel's Galilee region remained an option if large-scale combat were to begin, as he claimed that Hezbollah had more than 100,000 fighters in its ranks.

Hezbollah said it will not end its attacks until Israel ends its siege on the embattled Gaza Strip, where more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed.

It said it is carrying out the attacks in support of its ally Hamas, which carried out an deadly raid into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, taking 240 hostages and setting off retaliatory attacks.

Mr Nasrallah also spoke about the US-backed ceasefire deal and talks towards a truce that have stalled in recent weeks.

Mr Nasrallah said there were “gaps” in the deal, including the lack of commitment to a permanent ceasefire, which Hamas has also demanded.

He said that Israel “will be able to resume the war” without one.

The US-backed deal would begin with a six-week pause in the fighting, but Hamas fears that Israel will continue the war after it returns hostages.

The Israel-Lebanon clashes have killed at least 478 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also 93 civilians, according to AFP.

Israeli authorities said 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country's north.