U.S. Troops to Return in Coffins If Not Withdrawn

Date: 12 January 2020 - 22:30

News ID: ۷۵۰۱۷

BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday called on U.S. troops to withdraw from the region and said any future American attack on Iran would draw a retaliation against the occupying regime of Israel.
"If in the coming days or weeks the U.S. doesn’t withdraw its forces from the Middle East, the American soldiers will return to the U.S. in coffins,” Nasrallah declared.
He said that Iran’s missile strike on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq showed Tehran’s military strength, since the missiles it used were produced in Iran.
Nasrallah made the remarks at a memorial ceremony in Lebanon for Iranian General Qassem Soleimani who was recently assassinated by the United States.
Hezbollah has vowed to avenge the assassination earlier this month of General Soleimani, who oversaw Iran’s regional security strategy.
"All the American bases in the Middle East are within range of Iran’s accurate missiles,” Nasrallah said. "The attack on the American bases is also a strong message to the Zionist entity, that is always planning to ‘play’ with Iran. Netanyahu always dreams of sending his air force to attack the infrastructure or nuclear facilities in Iran.”
Netanyahu, said the Hezbollah chief, "doesn’t understand where he’s dragging the entity he heads… When they hear the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] and other Iranian officials threaten the Zionist entity, they should take those threats seriously.”
Nasrallah said that Tehran had conveyed to Washington through intermediaries and via the media that any American attack against Iran would bring a strong response against the U.S. and Israel.
He said that Hezbollah today is able to defend Lebanon thanks to Iran and Gen. Soleimani.
"Hezbollah’s great successes in south Lebanon in 1999 and 2000 are a credit to Gen. Soleimani, including Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon,” Nasrallah said.
He also referred to the Ukrainian airliner that Iran accidentally shot down last week outside Tehran, killing 176, saying that no country could act as transparently as Iran had.