Hizbullah Chief Threatens Israel With ‘Ammonia Bomb’

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel with a missile assault on the ammonia plant in Haifa, which he claimed would cause an explosion like a nuclear bomb.

Nasrallah, speaking on Tuesday from his bunker in an undisclosed location, quoted an Israeli expert who said that an explosion of the 15,000 tons of gas at the plant would be comparable to a “nuclear bomb.”

The threats were made on the occasion of Hizbullah’s “Loyalty to Martyrs and Leaders” day. He also repeated statements made in the past, that while Hizbullah has no interest in war at this time, it is nevertheless ready for one.

Nasrallah also commented on Israel’s improved relations with Sunni Arab states: “The Israelis believe that they are before two opportunities. The first is establishing relations and alliances with the Sunni Arab states through taking advantage of the confrontation with Iran, and the other is changing the regime in Syria.”

Addressing the Sunni leaders, he asked rhetorically, “Do you accept a friend occupying Sunni land in Palestine? Can you become friends with an entity that has committed the most horrible massacres against the Sunni community?”

“You are free to consider Iran an enemy but how can you consider Israel a friend and an ally? This issue must be confronted in a serious manner,” he said.

Nasrallah has rarely been seen in public since the 2006 Second Lebanon War with Israel, and reportedly lives in a highly fortified bunker in Lebanon. However, Lebanese media said on Monday that he was in Iran on Sunday for urgent treatment for cancer.