The Israeli military is suffering from a defeatist mentality and does not dare fight Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group, bragged Sunday.
In a message marking the first anniversary of Hezbollah's victory against Islamic State operatives on the Lebanon-Syria border, Nasrallah claimed that the Israel Defense Forces is suffering from declining motivation among young Israelis to join combat units.
Since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, some 44,000 Israeli soldiers have sought psychological treatment, he said.
"No one can wage war against us," Nasrallah boasted. "Israel is afraid, which is why it will not wage war against us."
Commenting on his organization's involvement in the Syrian civil war, Nasrallah said that over the years his group's fighters have never needed encouragement to join the battles in Syria because they understood their significance for the security of Lebanon and the region.
"If we decide to wage a [new] large battle in Syria, our youths will only need a signal because they have devotion and clarity of vision," Nasrallah said. "For seven years we have been fighting, there was no objection, restlessness or annoyance from our base. There was only support."
He also repeated Russian and Syrian claims that a possible chemical attack on Syria's Idlib province is being prepared as a pretext for a new U.S.-backed attack against Syria. He said the aim of this plot is to prevent the Syrian government from completing the liberation of its territories.
Syria denies it has any chemical weapons left, after giving them up in a Russia-negotiated deal in 2013. Damascus and Moscow accuse rebels and their Western allies of staging all subsequent suspected chemical attacks.
