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Hezbollah leader warns of future war with Israel in Israeli territory

Hassan Nasrallah also said the group is pulling back from Lebanon's eastern border with Syria
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters from a screen in Beirut's southern suburbs on 11 May (Reuters)

Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday that any future conflict between the Shia group and Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, at a time of high tension between the arch foes.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also said in a live televised speech that the group had dismantled all its military positions along Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, and this area was now the "responsibility of the state".

Israel "is scared and worried of any future confrontation... and knows that it could be inside the occupied Palestinian territories," Nasrallah said.

Two Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah targets inside Syria in recent weeks have raised tension between the two.

Nasrallah also said the Syrian conflict had entered a new phase, without elaborating, but added that any opportunity to halt the fighting in the country should be seized.

Nasrallah's words came during a ceremony marking a year after Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an attack in Syria.
 
This was not the first time Nasrallah has threatened to invade Israel in a future war, wrote Israeli newspaper Haaretz in response to Nasrallah's comments.
 
With the experience Hezbollah has gained in the Syrian civil war, it is now regarded by Israel as an army and no longer a guerrilla organisation, said Haaretz.
 
Haaretz reported earlier this week that the Israeli ministry of defence was set on installing a new fence along two stretches of Israel's border with Lebanon, similar to the border fence Israel has on its Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian frontiers.

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