Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters on screen during a rally commemorating the group's late leaders in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday. (Credit:L Aziz Taher/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that the Iran-backed group has been producing drones in Lebanon and has the ability to turn thousands of rockets into precision missiles.
Here’s what we know:
• “We have been producing drones in Lebanon for a long time and whoever wants to buy them, submit an order,” Nasrallah said during a speech delivered to commemorate the martyrdom of party leaders Ragheb Harb, Abbas al-Mousawi and Imad Moghniyeh.
• Nasrallah also contended that his group has the ability to convert thousands of rockets into precision missiles, saying, “we started that years ago, and we have converted many of our rockets into precision ones…we no longer need to bring in precision rockets from Iran.”
• Affirming Hezbollah’s participation in parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15, Nasrallah said: “Our official motto in the elections is ‘we will protect and build.’” Nasrallah added that parliamentary elections should be held on time, saying, “Those accusing us of trying to postpone elections are the ones wishing for its postponement.”
• Nasrallah’s speech also tackled the latest political and security developments in Lebanon and the region, particularly some states' normalization of relations with Israel.
• The Hezbollah chief said: “Some [people] in the region and also in Lebanon imagine that the future of the region is linked to a fixed element called Israel and do not envision the future of the region in isolation from it, so some tend to normalize [relations] and recognize the enemy.”
• Egypt and Jordan normalized relations with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan have taken steps in the same direction in recent years.
• Among Hezbollah’s martyrs, Harb was assassinated by an Israeli agent on Feb. 16, 1984, while late Hezbollah Secretary-General Mousawi was martyred with his wife and son when an Israeli aircraft attacked his convoy on Feb.16, 1992. Sixteen years later, on Feb. 12, 2008, Hezbollah’s top military commander Moghniyeh was martyred in Syria in a car bomb planted by Israeli agents.