The war of words between Israel and Hizbullah continued on Sunday, with a top official in the guerrilla group brushing off "threats" made by IDF Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, in which the latter said that the next war would have serious consequences for the villages which support Hizbullah. "The resistance is completely ready and Israel's threats do not scare [us]," Sheikh Nabil Kaouk said during a rally in southern Lebanon. His comments were published by United Arab Emirates newspaper Al-Hilaj on Sunday. "This paper tiger state will collapse at the hands of resistance fighters, which achieved a glowing victory in 2000 and 2006 against this thieving entity which has taken Palestinian land," Kaouk continued. "The liberation strategy of the resistance has proven its effectiveness, and has demonstrated its success on the highest levels," he said. "The proof of this is seen in the Lebanese flags and the flags of the resistance flying in the winds of victory next to the Golan and the Shaba Farms."
Kaouk then reiterated comments previously made by other Hizbullah officials in which the group vowed to fight on until the Shaba Farms area was out of Israeli control. "The enemy must know that as long as it occupies our land in Shaba FarmsÂ…it will never be secure because the resistance is still bound to the national obligation to complete what was achieved in 2000 (the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon)," he said. "The strategy of the resistance is the fundamental source of Lebanon's strength in returning the remaining land, because the diplomats have reached a dead-end," he concluded. "Israel, which is frustrated by its many internal problems, is not capable of launching a new war against Lebanon," Kaouk said, adding that the comments made by Eizenkot were nothing but propaganda.
In an interview with Yediot Ahronot over the weekend, Eizenkot said that the next war, if and when it happens, must be settled quickly, with force and without blinking in the face of international criticism. "We have the ability to do this," he said. "I have a great force in comparison to what was. I have no excuse for the inability to achieve the goals which will be imposed on me."
"Hizbullah knows full well that [rocket] fire from villages will lead to their destruction," Eizenkot continued. "Before [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah gives orders to shoot at Israel, he will need to think 30 times whether he wants to destroy his support base in the villages."