In a Feb. 16, 2016, speech aired on Al-Manar TV, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened the Israeli ammonia-storage facilities in Haifa. He quoted an Israeli expert, saying that a missile attack on the ammonia tanks would have the impact of a nuclear bomb.
Thus, said Nasrallah, it was “no exaggeration” to say that Hezbollah had a nuclear weapon.
He added that an attack on the Haifa ammonia facilities would potentially cause tens of thousands of deaths.
Exactly one year later, on Feb. 16, 2017, Nasrallah said in a speech aired on Mayadeen TV that Israel had decided to remove the ammonia tanks from Haifa due to Hezbollah’s threats. He claimed that the people of Haifa should thank Hezbollah for this.
He said that while an attack on the ammonia storage tanks would be the equivalent of “a nuclear attack,” an attack on a ship supplying ammonia to Israel would be akin to five nuclear bombs.