Iran has ordered the Lebanese Hizbollah resistance movement to mount a widespread terrorist campaign against Israeli interests after the Jewish state ends its occupation of southern Lebanon in July, Israeli press reports claimed Tuesday.
Quoting "security sources", Israeli newspapers said Tehran had told Hizbollah, which carries out most attacks on Israeli and allied forces in southern Lebanon, to switch to targets inside Israel and abroad, including aircraft and embassies.
To this end it should cooperate with extremist Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and recruit foreigners, the Israeli press quoted the Iranian instructions as saying.
General Amiram Levine, a former army commander in northern Israel and deputy head of the intelligence service Mossad, played down the reports, telling the daily Maariv that "it is in everyone's interest to keep calm."
Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben Ami said on public radio that the reports were "political guesswork rather than intelligence from the security services."
Hizbollah, which is backed by Lebanon and Syria as well as Iran, has not revealed what its policies will be after the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon announced for July 7 -- OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
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