The leader of Hezbollah said his group does not want a war with Israel but will take immediate action against any Israeli aggression.

“We do not want a war, but we are not afraid of it and we must distinguish between the two, and the Israelis must also understand this very well,” Hassan Nasrallah said Jan. 30 in his first televised speech since his group’s attack on the Israel-Lebanon border that killed two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Jan. 28.

“We don’t fear war [against Israel] and we don’t hesitate in facing it if it is imposed on us, and we will be victorious, God willing,” Nasrallah said.

The Jan. 28 attack was believed to be a retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights that killed 12 Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general several days earlier. — jta