BEIRUT, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Friday called on the Lebanese to unite to defend the country's maritime rights against Israel.

"In the case of the struggle with Israel in what is the land and maritime border and Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone, the battle that Israel has launched against Lebanon's rights is one of the titles of this war," Nasrallah said in a televised speech during a ceremony honoring the party's former leaders.

"The oil resources present in the south and across Lebanon are for all Lebanese. The Lebanese people suffering from debt don't have resources and the only hope might be in the oil and gas on our land. This is the hope for Lebanon that the economy can be placed the on a promising road," he added.

The Hezbollah leader even threatened Israel by using rockets to destroy the disputed sea areas.

"If the Lebanese Higher Defense Council declares certain oil and gas rigs in the Palestinian sea are violated by Israel, I promise that within a few hours they will stop working," he said.

Nasrallah also blasted the U.S. as not being "an honest mediator" in the dispute between Lebanon and Israel regarding the maritime borders.

"The America is not an honest mediator, particularly if the other party in the mediation is the Israeli enemy," he noted.