‘No place beyond reach’: Netanyahu’s warning to ‘axis of evil’ Iran after Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that “there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach,” as he warned Iran against any attempts to attack his country over the targeted killing of Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in an airstrike by Israeli armed forces.
“If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first. Yesterday, the State of Israel eliminated the arch-murderer Hassan Nasrallah,” said Netanyahu adding that Israel has “settled accounts” with Hezbollah chief for his alleged role in killing “countless” Israelis and citizens of other countries, including the US and France.
He also called Nasrallah as “the terrorist” and not “just another terrorist” and also the “main engine of Iran’s axis of evil” in West Asia. Netanyahu also alleged that Nasrallah was one of the chief architects of the Iran’s Ayatollah regime’s plan to “destroy” Israel.
In an attempt to portray the Islamic regime and its allies in West Asia as anti-people, Netanyahu said, “All those who oppose the axis of evil, all those who are fighting under the violent dictatorship of Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran itself and other places, they are all filled with hope today. I say to the citizens of those countries: Israel stands with you. And to the ayatollahs’ regime I say: Those who strike us, we strike them. There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. Today, you already know that this is correct”.
Why kill Nasrallah?
Netanyahu reasoned that eliminating Nasrallah was essential to enable the return of Israeli citizens to their homes across the country’s northern border with Lebanon and change the “balance of power” in the region for “years” to come.
Israeli PM also emphasised his country’s commitment to “defend” its citizens and secure the release of all hostages. “We are determined to continue striking our enemies, to return our residents to their homes, and to return all of our hostages. We do not forget them even for a moment,” he said.
“As long as Nasrallah was alive, he would have quickly rebuilt the capabilities we took from Hezbollah. His elimination advances the return of our residents to their homes in the north. It also advances the return of our hostages in the south,” Netanyahu said expressing gratitude to Israeli Armed forces and intelligence agencies for their “great achievements”.