While the rhetoric in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict has remained bellicose as ever, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah offered secret assurances to Israel last year, according to leaked cables from Syria.
The assurances were delivered to Israel by way of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Department for the Middle East, which received the message through Syrian officials.
Nasrallah told the Israelis the Israel-Lebanon border was the “safest in the world” and that Hezbollah had no intention of attacking Israel, being far too busy with its involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
Israel has never publicly acknowledged such a message, and has repeatedly talked up the idea of an imminent war with Lebanon, launching multiple strikes along the border and blaming Hezbollah every time tensions flare, even when other, smaller factions claim credit for incidents.
