Hezbollah Leader Escalates Rhetoric As Tensions With Israel Increase

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, has delivered a bellicose speech at a memorial for a Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month, threatening retaliatory military action against Israel. Nasrallah also warned of action against Cyprus, for alleged complicity in Israeli attacks on Lebanese soil.

• Haaretz notes that Nasrallah also said that "an invasion of the Galilee remains on the table if the fighting escalates."
• The threat against an EU members state is a major escalation of rhetoric and, if actioned, could draw the European Union closer to direct involvement in a wider Middle East war against proxies of Iran.
• Nasrallah: "We have information that the enemy is conducting maneuvers in Cyprus in Cypriot areas and airports.. And he believes that if his airports are targeted, he will use Cypriot airports and facilities... Therefore, the Cypriot government must know that opening Cypriot airports and bases for war on Lebanon... We will deal with Cyprus as if it were party.”
• Nasrallah's remarks are notably more hawkish than previous speeches which have kept the conflict contained to limited skirmishes and rocket fire around the Israeli-Lebanese border.
• US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week for talks with Israeli and Lebanese officials to calm tensions but declined to meet with any representatives of Hezbollah. As the Lebanese govt has limited influence over Hezbollah, it is unlikely his trip can deliver much in the war of diffusing the current escalation.