Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a TV interview Tuesday that his forces would not attack Israel if Israel did not attack Lebanon, and that Hezbollah’s aim was to deter Israel and protect Lebanon’s civilians.
Nasrallah was speaking in the opening episode of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s new talk show.
The half-hour segment aired on Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT Tuesday and featured questions about Israel, Lebanon, Syria, theology and encryption. Nasrallah, who is rarely seen on English-language television, largely stuck to well-established positions.
But he did reveal that his group had been in touch with opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, apparently because he was prepared to approach Assad on their behalf.
He said that Hezbollah had “contacted elements of the opposition, to encourage them, to facilitate dialogue with the regime.”
Speaking through a translator, Nasrallah said, however, that Hezbollah had been rebuffed.
“You have an opposition that is not prepared for dialogue… all it wants is to bring down the regime,” he said.
Tuesday marks the launch of Assange’s unlikely career in television, and a partnership with a state-backed station that many have found uncomfortable.
Assange himself said he anticipated criticism along the lines of: “There’s Julian Assange, enemy combatant, traitor, getting into bed with the Kremlin and interviewing terrible radicals from around the world.”
