Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to hit ammonia tanks in Haifa in a future confrontation with Israel, saying that the damage done in such a scenario would be equivalent to that done by an atomic bomb and could lead to the death of 800,000 people.

"Israel knows Hezbollah has missiles and rockets that can strike anywhere in its territory," Nasrallah said in a speech delivered by video at a memorial ceremony for the group's past leaders in Beirut on Tuesday.

He stressed that Israel would avoid going to war as long as it wasn’t certain it would end swiftly. According to him, keeping up the power of Hezbollah's military apparatus and strengthening it would prevent any future attack on Lebanon.

Nasrallah also mentioned Israel in relation to the ongoing war in Syria, saying that the recent advances of the Syrian's army and its allies have put Syria on a "new track" and that the plans of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel to topple President Bashar Assad have failed. He also said that Turkey and Saudi Arabia were driven by their "hatred" to Assad.

"For them, there is no problem if the fighting and destruction continued in Syria for dozens of years, they do not have a problem with that," he said.

"They are willing to take the region to a regional war or global war but not willing or ready to accept a real political and national settlement in Syria, see the level of hatred and malice," he told supporters.

"The armed groups supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey did not deliver so the motive is not fighting Deash but to look for a foothold after all these disappointments that occurred so far," he said, referring to Islamic State.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and some European allies want ground troops deployed in Syria, the Turkish foreign minister said, as a Russia-backed government advance nears its borders. This has raised the possibility of direct confrontation between the NATO member and Moscow. Russian air support for the Syrian government offensive has transformed the balance of power in the five-year-old war in the past three weeks.