Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that any Israeli killing in Lebanon would “trigger a strong response,” after reports that Israel might target Hamas officials in the country, in an interview with al-Manar TV on Monday night.

Nasrallah commented on recent remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blaming Iran for funding terrorist attacks in the West Bank, saying “The Israeli enemy, faced with the rise of resistance in the West Bank, ran away to accuse Iran and to pretend that what is happening there is an Iranian plan and that the Palestinians there are puppets, and this is nonsense.”

“The battle in the West Bank is with the Palestinian people. Yes, the Islamic Republic supports the oppressed Palestinian people, but the resistance project is a Palestinian project.”

The Hezbollah chief also dismissed the dangers of targeted killings of terrorists in the region who are backed by Iran, saying “The assassination threat is not new, and the Israeli enemy has always carried out assassinations. Did these assassinations shake the resistance?”

He said that these threats do not make the resistance back down. “Neither the threat nor the execution of the threat will weaken the resistance, but will make it more determined, present, and powerful.”

Nasrallah said that the enemy must accept that it is in a hopeless situation, and that no matter how many meetings its leaders have, and if they seek advice from all the experts in the world, they will not be able to escape their dilemma. “The only solution for the enemy entity is to leave Palestine to its people and owners, otherwise the fighting will go on generation after generation.”

The Hezbollah leader said that any killing of a Lebanese, Palestinian, Iranian, Syrian, or any other person would cause a “strong response.”

He said that this cannot be allowed, and that Lebanon will not be a place for assassinations. He said that they will not agree to change the rules of engagement that have been in place since 2006, and that the Israelis must understand this well.

Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau who is often linked to the terrorist group’s operations in the West Bank, has been mentioned in media reports as a possible target for assassination because of his role in West Bank terrorism. Arouri has been living in Lebanon lately.

On Monday, the Lebanese Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported that an intelligence team from a “friendly Arab country” was expected to arrive in Beirut on Monday and wanted to “advise” Hamas to have Arouri leave Lebanon because of the tensions. The team hopes to help avoid an escalation between Israel and Hamas in the region.

Nasrallah also talked about the efforts to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), saying “the UN Security Council does not see what Israel is doing in Lebanon. Instead, they see how southern Lebanon does not pose a threat to the enemy. So, they want UNIFIL to be spies for the Israelis and they want UNIFIL where the Israeli drone, spy, or camera cannot reach.”

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib opposed a draft resolution to extend the mandate over the weekend, saying that it “does not stress the need and importance of UNIFIL coordinating its operations with the Lebanese government, represented by the army, as required by the UNIFIL’s operations agreement known as Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).”

Bou Habib also wants to remove an article of the resolution that allows UNIFIL to act “without prior authorization” and “independently.”