"Tanks, ground troops are ready to go into Lebanon": Defence expert Ranjeet Rai on tense situation in Middle East

New Delhi [India], September 29 : Defence Expert Ranjeet Rai on Saturday highlighted the tense situation in the Middle East after the Israeli Defence Forces killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah.
Speaking to ANI, Rai said that according to the media, tanks and ground troops are ready to go into Lebanon.
"So it's a very serious matter that has taken place where Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel rushed to the United Nations, gave his speech, and showed pictures of what's going on. He showed diagrams of what's going on in his area, and he has rushed back and according to the media, tanks are ready, and ground troops are ready to go into Lebanon," he said.
In his address at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu showed two maps and asked the world to choose between "blessing" and "curse."
Explaining the "map of blessing," he said, "It shows Israel and its Arab partners forming a land bridge connecting Asia and Europe between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea."
Speaking about the "map of curse," he said, "Now look at this second map. It's a map of a curse. It's a map of an arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean."
Netanyahu warned that Iran will endanger every country in the Middle East and many countries in the rest of the world if it is not checked.
Rai said that if Iran gets involved in the war, it will lead to a very serious situation.
"Lebanon is situated on the north of Israel and south Lebanon in 2006 had been taken over by the Israelis. Now Israelis had to go back. So it's a very, very volatile situation. If Iran gets involved, it could lead to more serious confrontation. Now there is a leadership crisis," he said.
Rai said that several top leaders of the Hezbollah have died in the walkie-talkie and pager explosion by Israel.
"Israel had announced that in a terrible airstrike, they had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah party in Lebanon. Hezbollah has accepted and announced that is true. Lot of other leaders were also killed. It happened right in the center of Beirut. And Beirut is the capital of Lebanon, where a very capable terrorist organisation called Hezbollah is situated. When the Palestinian Liberation Organisation was founded in 1964, they had said that Israel has no right to be there in that area," he said.
"Terrorist organisations came in. You have seen what's going on in Gaza by the Hamas, another terrorist organisation. So the leader of Hezbollah, the most powerful organisation, which is affiliated to Iran, its weapons, its modus operandi, its missiles, its technology, and its economic support come from Iran. So it is true that the leader is dead. Many other top commanders had died in the pager attack and the walkie-talkie attack," he added.