In an interview with “Galey Israel” radio, which was Handout via “The Jerusalem Post”, ex-Israeli Navy commander Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Marom said on Wednesday that Israel had a number of chances to assassinate Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah over the years but chose not to.
“I, for a long time, have thought that Israel needs to say clearly to Nasrallah, if you threaten the gas fields and, God forbid, dare to carry out some missile attack or anything, we will respond severely… and we will hit you, too, the moment that we will be able to.”
Marom added, “I don’t want to get into details, but I will say that we had more than one opportunity to hit Nasrallah over the years, and we didn’t do it. So he should not test us,…But now, when he’s put a gun on the table and is threatening Israel and its sovereignty, we could.”
When asked if he thought Hezbollah would carry out provocations even if Lebanon and Israel reached an agreement on their maritime border, Marom said, “It’s hard to know what to expect with Hezbollah.”
However, he predicts conflict with Hezbollah about natural gas in the economic waters will continue, even if a deal is reached.
“The deal isn’t good, we didn’t get enough, or any other thing,” he said. “I’m guessing that even though there will be a deal, the conflict with Hezbollah about the natural gas in the economic waters will continue.”
Marom stressed that Lebanon’s economic and energy crisis is “unprecedented in its severity” and may pose a security risk to Israel.
“We have to help the Lebanese because we don’t really have a conflict with the citizens of Lebanon: we have a conflict with Hezbollah,” he said, adding: “Israel’s security is defined by whether Lebanon gets out of this energy crisis and this economic crisis.”
Marom’s statement comes as the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, is supposed to present a final proposal in writing to both sides in the next few days, after presenting his latest ideas orally several weeks ago.
Related:
The Border Demarcation Between Lebanon And Israel Is A Priority For President Biden.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Confirmed That Hochstein Carried New Proposals In The Border Demarcation File.
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