Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said that he does not want war with Israel but that his forces should not be underestimated.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Nasrallah told his audience that while his organization is busy fighting in Syria for President Bashar Assad, Israel should not think that it was unable to defend itself from what he termed Israeli aggression.

“We will not initiate a war, nor are we interested in a war,” Nasrallah stated. He said that since the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah was “much stronger” and had bolstered its weapons arsenal, training, and number of covert troops and soldiers. He warned that should Israel attack, “our response will be…more painful that it was during the Second Lebanon War.”

Nasrallah defended the terrorist organizations involvement in the Syrian civil war, saying that it intervened in Syria to help protect Lebanon and the future of the Lebanese people. He reiterated that Hezbollah is firstly an anti-Zionist “resistance” organization that was created as a result of struggle against the Jewish state.

Nasrallah applauded Hezbollah’s strategy of deterrence, saying that it had kept the villages in southern Lebanon safe from Israel by making them think twice before launching any action in Lebanon.

He continued by explaining that Lebanon was full of gold and wood, pointing out that “wood is reserved for the coffins of occupation [Israeli] soldiers.” Nasrallah added that “Jihad activity, steadfastness, and sacrifice are all an expression of our culture of resistance.”

On Friday night, Israel shot and killed two armed terrorists on the Syria-Israel border in the Golan Heights. The men were attempting to sabotage “operational infrastructure” on the border.