Conflicting reports on IRGC 'pre-emptive' strike

GVF — The head of Iran's Quds force, Qassem Suleimani has warned the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah against waging any pre-emptive war on Israel, according to a website affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards Corps.

On Wednesday, Javan Online published a story about recent talks between Suleimani and the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. The commander of the Quds force reportedly stressed that “radical” figures within the resistance group, who were calling for a pre-emptive strike on Israel, must be dealt with “firmly.”

“Your military preparedness, readiness to destroy Tel-Aviv and the ability to continuously bombard Eilat … must not make you arrogant,” Suleimani added. “The expectation was that after … comments made by the Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei], there would be an end to talks about a pre-emptive strike.”

Javan Online made no mention of where and how the alleged conversation between Suleimani and Nasrallah had taken place.

Hours after the story was published, Iran’s own news agencies repudiated the report and Javan Online later removed the piece from its site.

AFP recently quoted an Israeli military official as saying that it was Iran that favoured a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. “If you ask Nasrallah today, he would say ‘no’ (to a new war with Israel) but I don’t think that’s his call,” he said.