- Thousands of Iranian-backed fighters are ready to join Hezbollah in the fight against Israel.
- The Israel Defense Forces have approved plans for a potential attack on Lebanon.
- The UN Secretary-General has warned that an escalation of the conflict could lead to “unimaginable” catastrophe.
Thousands of Iranian-backed fighters are ready to join Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah amid rising tensions with neighboring Israel, the Associated Press reported.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Wednesday that militant leaders from the Iran-led Axis of Resistance had offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to support Hezbollah, as clashes between his group and Israel threatened to escalate into all-out war.
“We thank them but we are overwhelmed by their numbers,” Nasrallah said, according to the Associated Press, adding that Hezbollah already had 100,000 fighters.
At the time, Hezbollah had about 30,000 active fighters and up to 20,000 reservists, according to a May 2020 Atlantic Council report.
An anonymous source at an Iranian-backed group in Iraq told The Associated Press in Baghdad that in the event of all-out war “we would be fighting side by side with Hezbollah,” adding that advisers from Iraq were already in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has been supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas in launching attacks on Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks that left about 1,200 people dead in Israel.
Israel has launched a fierce counterattack against the group, targeting its commanders and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Israel is also considering all-out war with the group, and its Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday a decision on such a move was close.
“A decision moment is approaching to change the rules for Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah would be destroyed and Lebanon would be hit hard,” Katz wrote on X.
This came shortly after the Israel Defense Forces announced that plans for an “attack” in Lebanon had been approved.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that an escalation of the conflict would have devastating consequences.
“Let me be clear: the people of the region and the world cannot accept Lebanon becoming another Gaza,” he said.
“One rash action, one miscalculation, could trigger a catastrophe that is frankly unimaginable, far beyond our borders,” he added.
A March report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that even if Israel were to decisively defeat Hezbollah in an all-out war, “it is unlikely to destroy the group, given its deep roots in Lebanon and strong backing from Iran.”
