Report: Nasrallah, Iran's Qaani agree on avoiding war with Israel
As the efforts to reach a truce in Gaza ran aground and Israel’s threats to invade Rafah escalated, the Quds Force head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard visited Lebanon, Syria and Iraq last week and held talks with the leaders of the groups that are allied with his country, a media report said.
“He once again informed them of Tehran’s stance on the need to keep all eyes fixed on Gaza and to avoid engaging in any war with Israel at any cost,” a senior Quds Force source told Kuwait’s al-Jarida newspaper.
The Quds Force chief “held a lengthy meeting with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in which they discussed the details of the military situation in Lebanon,” the source said.
“The two sides agreed that Israel is seeking to drag Hezbollah into a war and that the Iran-led Axis of Resistance’s higher interest requires avoiding the Israeli trap and refraining from entering a direct war with Israel, despite the hefty prices Hezbollah has been forced to bear in terms of the number of those killed among its ranks, the targeting of its positions and the destruction of Lebanese border towns,” the source added.
“Nasrallah agreed with Qaani that Hezbollah must absorb the pain and not engage in an all-out war unless Israel tries to invade Lebanon,” the source went on to say.
The source also revealed that a Hamas military wing representative participated in a part of the Nasrallah-Qaani meeting, telling the two men that Hamas’ military situation in Gaza is “very good.”
“It lost a little more than 10% of its military capabilities during the past five months, whereas it had been expected that it would lost more than half of its capabilities,” the Hamas official reportedly said.
He also also told them that “starting an all-out war would harm the Palestinian stance,” the Iranian source said.
“Qaani and Nasrallah discussed means to boost the smuggling of logistic, military and medical aid to Hamas out of fear that the few remaining smuggling routes might soon be closed,” the source added.
“They also agreed to plan assassination operations against Israelis in response to the assassination of Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah officials,” the source alleged.
Reuters meanwhile quoted “seven sources” as saying that Qaani had visited Beirut in February to discuss the risk posed if Israel next aims at Lebanon's Hezbollah, an offensive that could severely hurt Tehran's main regional partner.
“At the previously unreported meeting, Nasrallah reassured Qaani he didn't want Iran to get sucked into a war with Israel or the United States and that Hezbollah would fight on its own,” the sources said. "This is our fight," Nasrallah told Qaani, according to an Iranian source with knowledge of the discussions.
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