“The resistance movement in Lebanon today – its weapons, its equipment, its capabilities, its members, its expertise, its experience, its faith, its determination and courage and its will – is stronger than it has ever been since it began operating in the region,” said Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

Speaking about the restoration of the sanctions by Washington, Nasrallah said: “I can tell you and I have accurate information they are building dreams, strategies and projects that Iran will head toward chaos and the regime will fall. This is illusion, this is imagination and has nothing to do with reality.”

He added that Hezbollah is not scared of a possible war with Israel.

“No one should threaten us with war and no one should scare us by war,” he said, adding: “We are not scared or worried about war and we are ready for it and we will be victorious.”

“Hezbollah might not be the strongest army in the Middle East but it is certainly stronger than the Israeli army,” Nasrallah said, according to Lebanese news outlet Naharnet. “Because we have more faith in our cause and greater willingness to sacrifice.”

“The resistance in Lebanon — with its arms, personnel, expertise and capabilities — is stronger than ever,” Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah also spoke about Israel’s confrontation with Hamas and Gaza, saying that “Israel did not know what to do regarding Gaza, which adopted the equation of shelling to respond to the shelling [from Gaza].”

“The 2006 [Second Lebanon] war was an American plan to control the region, and when the war failed, the plan failed. The American plan failed even when we won in Gaza and when Syria and Iran stood firm. Israel today is rebuilding itself in the shadow of the defeat in 2006”, Nasrallah said, blaming Israel for supporting rebel forces in Syria in the hope the regime would collapse, which would lead to legitimization of the annexation of the Golan Heights by Israel.

According to reports by several media outlets in Lebanon, the organization has recently significantly reduced the size of its forces stationed on Syrian soil. According to various estimates, the order of Hezbollah forces stationed in Syria has dropped by almost 50%, from about 8,000 fighters to about 4,000 to 5,000.

According to Lebanese commentators, the reduction of forces took place in light of the removal of the Islamic State (Daesh) from most of Syria and the return of the Assad army and regime elements to function. During the civil war in Syria, which began in Daraa in March 2011, Hezbollah lost some 2,000 of its fighters and according to various estimates about 10,000 of its members were injured.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)