Responding to Ministry of Defense Gallant, Hezbollah Leader Threatens to Make Israel Back to the Stone Age: Only Needs a Few Precision Missiles

The leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. (Wikimedia Commons/Khademei.ir)

JAKARTA - Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that he would return Israel to the stone age if it attacked Lebanon, replying to a similar warning from Israel last week.

Nasrallah made his comments at an event marking the anniversary of the end of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the last major conflict between the two sides.

"You will also be returned to the stone age," Nasrallah said in response to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's threat last week, as reported by the Times of Israel on August 15.

"Hezbollah needs only a few high-precision missiles to destroy targets, including civilian and military airports, airbases, power plants... and the Dimona [nuclear] reactor," he continued.

Nasrallah's comments come amid a recent increase in Hezbollah activity along the two countries' border, in incidents that Israel regards as deliberate provocations, including the erection of two tents on the Israeli side in the UN-recognized 'Blue Line' area of ​​Mount Dov.

The Iranian-backed group then tore down one of the tents, threatening to strike if Israel moved to dismantle the other.

"After 17 years of efforts, preparation and development, Israel has been unable to restore the image of the Israeli army," Nasrallah said, according to news outlet Al-Mayadeen.

"The Israeli army is currently in the worst condition in history," he added, referring to warnings by top IDF officers that military readiness had been hurt by the soldiers' protests against the overhaul of the justice system.

The month-long 2006 war came after Hezbollah forces attacked two Israeli Humvees in a cross-border attack, killing several Israeli soldiers and taking two prisoners. The conflict that followed killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians, as quoted by The National News.

Hezbollah is the only post-civil war militia that still keeps its weapons. Nasrallah's critics accuse him of holding the state for ransom, given the large number of weapons its members possess.