BEIRUT-
The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah threatened Israel with a military escalation on Wednesday if a future agreement on the disputed maritime border between the two countries does not favor Lebanon.
Sayyed Hassan Narallah said in a televised speech that Lebanon should be able to extract oil and gas in Lebanese waters. He warned that sending unarmed drones over the Karish gas field in the Mediterranean earlier this month was “a modest start to where the situation could go.”
On July 2, the Israeli army said it shot down three drones before Hezbollah issued a statement saying they were unarmed and sent on a reconnaissance mission. “The mission was accomplished and the message was received,” a Hezbollah statement said at the time.
Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies who fought a month-long war in the summer of 2006. Israel considers the Iranian-backed Lebanese group its most serious immediate threat, estimating that it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
“The message from the drones meant that we are serious and we are not looking for psychological warfare, but we are gradually advancing our steps,” Nasrallah said, adding that Lebanese officials should seize the strength of their group to use in indirect talks.
Nasrallah added that “what we are supposed to do, we will do without hesitation. This message was understood by the Israelis and the Americans.”
Nasrallah declined to comment on the Lebanese interim prime minister’s criticism of Hezbollah for sending the drones. Najib Mikati said at the time that it was an unnecessarily risky move.
“Whether our message was understood in Lebanon or not, we don’t care about that. What is important to us is that the enemy gets the message,” he said.
The incident at the Karish gas field took place shortly after US mediator Amos Hochstein visited Lebanese and Israeli officials as talks progressed.
Nasrallah’s comments came hours after President Joe Biden arrived in Israel at the start of his first visit to the Middle East as president.
Lebanon claims the Karish gas field is disputed territory under ongoing maritime border negotiations, while Israel says it lies within its internationally recognized economic waters.
Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to determine their maritime borders began in October 2020, when the two sides held indirect talks mediated by the United States in southern Lebanon. Since he took over the mediation in late 2021, Hochstein has resorted to itinerant diplomacy with visits to both Beirut and Jerusalem.
Nasrallah said it was the first time Hezbollah had sent three drones at the same time, adding that when Israeli forces opened fire near Karish it was a message to the facility’s engineers that this is not a safe area.
Nasrallah said that apart from drones, Hezbollah has other capabilities in the air and at sea and “all options are on the table.”
“If we go to war, we could impose our conditions on the enemy,” Nasrallah said, adding that if the Americans “don’t give us the rights that the state demands and if they don’t allow companies to extract (oil) God knows what we will do.” We will turn the table before the world.”
Israel and Lebanon, which have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948, claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to exploit offshore gas reserves as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history.