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Hezbollah Leader Says Easier to Fight IS than Israel

© Flickr / upyernozThe leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement believes that IS has no future in the Middle East
The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement believes that  IS has no future in the Middle East - Sputnik International
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Fighting the Islamic State militants, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is an easier and more realistic task than fighting Israel, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement said.

BEIRUT, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Fighting the Islamic State militants, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is an easier and more realistic task than fighting Israel, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement said.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), renamed Islamic State (IS), and those behind it can be easily defeated, it is not an unrealistic task, while the battle with Israel would be a harder one, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a television address Friday, on the anniversary of the victory over Israel in the 2006 Lebanon War.

The Lebanon War, called the July War in the Arab world, an armed conflict between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah movement controlling most of the southern regions of Lebanon, lasted 34 days between July 12 and August 14, 2006 and left more than 800 people killed. The Israeli Army managed to advance 15-20 kilometers inside the Lebanese territory, but was forced to retreat under the pressure of Lebanese partisans.

The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah is one of the most powerful opponents of the Jewish state, but since the end of the war, a ceasefire has been maintained.

Nasrallah said that IS had no future in the Middle East, but to defeat the Sunni militants, Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese people had to unite and fight extremists in their countries.

Hezbollah militants have been taking part in the Syrian government's operations against the armed opposition and the IS militants in the conflict that has claimed more than 130,000 lives since March 2011.

The Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), has been fighting in Syria and launched an offensive in Iraq in June. The group has taken over large parts of the country, with a goal of seizing Baghdad. The group has also announced the establishment of a caliphate on the Iraq-Syria border.

Hezbollah is a paramilitary and political organization originating in Lebanon’s Shiite population, fighting for an Islamic state in Lebanon. The group is considered a terrorist state by many Western governments including Israel, the US, UK and many European states, but not by Russia.

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