Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Monday predicted that Israel would be destroyed by Hizbullah in the "near future", the Fars news agency reported. "In the near future, we will witness the destruction of this cancerous microbe Israel the aggressor, at the able hands of the soldiers of the community of Hizbullah," the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said.

His comments came in a condolence message to Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah after the assassination of the military leader Imad Moghniyeh, the news agency said.

"There is no doubt that the death of this loyal fighter will strengthen the determination of all the revolutionary and warrior Muslims in their battle against the Zionist regime, and particularly the determination of those fighting alongside this shahid (martyr)", Jafari added.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said he would not comment directly on the remarks by Mohammad Ali Jafari, but said: "We are not harboring any illusions about the Tehran regime's true intentions nor its extremist agenda." Foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel also claimed statements like Jafari's "do not merit Israel responding."

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)