Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah released a video on Friday August 16, unveiling an underground military facility dug through mountains called “Imad 4”, designated for launching missiles. The facility is believed to be named after Hezbollah late military leader Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Syria in 2008.
Statements of Hezobollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah threatening to attack entire Israel in case of launching a war in Lebanon are heard in the video, and are translated into both English and Hebrew. Several messages to Israel are sent through the video in a time of high tensions, according to what a source told Hezbollah-run news network Al-Manar.
“The resistance in Lebanon today, in its possession of weapons, equipment and capabilities, members, cadres, ability, expertise and experience, and also faith and determination, courage and will, is stronger than at any time since its launch in the region,” one of the messages in the video said.
“These targets are in our possession and the coordinates are in our hands, and these missiles are placed, deployed, and focused on targets and in perfect secrecy,” another message is articulated by Nasrallah in the video.
Nasrallah’s concluding message in the video further threatened Israel that “the resistance now possesses precision and non-precision missiles, along with its weapons capabilities, so that if Israel imposes a war on Lebanon, Israel will face a destiny and reality it didn’t expect any day.”
“War with us extends across all of Palestine, from the Lebanese border to the Jordanian border, to the Red Sea, from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat,” the concluding message added.
Commenting on the video, Israeli media outlets said that Hezbollah is trying to convey that the capabilities shown in the footage are only the tip of the iceberg, and that the purpose of the video “is to pressure Israel into reaching an agreement” in reference to the new round of Gaza’s ceasefire and prisoner swap talks, which the United States lead as the main mediator followed by Egypt and Qatar.
A few hours after Hezbollah’s video was released, the three mediators published a joint statement about the ongoing talks describing them as “serious and constructive”, and that they were conducted in a “positive atmosphere”. The statement claimed presenting “both parties (the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and Israel) a bridging proposal that is consistent with the principles laid out by President Biden on May 31, 2024 and Security Council Resolution No. 2735”.
The statement, which appears to bring no real resolution to pending points of contention between Hamas and Israel, indicated that the proposal “builds on areas of agreement over the past week, and bridges remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal.”
However, the statement clarified that “Working teams will continue technical work over the coming days on the details of implementation, including arrangements to implement the agreement’s extensive humanitarian provisions, as well as specifics relating to hostages and detainees.” It also declared that senior officials from US, Egypt and Qatar’s governments will reconvene in Cairo before the end of next week to conclude the deal under the terms put forward on Friday.
According to media reports an unnamed senior Hamas official slammed the joint statement for aligning with and accommodating Israeli demands, which include keeping its troops inside the Gaza Strip and at its border with Egypt. These demands clash with Hamas’ demands that include a complete ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza, a normal return of the displaced people to their areas of residence, and a prisoner-for-captives swap deal without restrictions.
In a related context, the Israeli occupation state-run TV channel KAN cited a senior security official saying that the military operations of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have ended with the possibility to return and re-enter Gaza upon receiving new intelligence information. The cited statement confirms that any agreement, convention or treaty that Israel signs will never be a guarantor to prevent it from resuming or launching any aggression on peoples in the region once decided.
