Israel on Thursday evening issued an advisory warning Israelis abroad to be vigilant in the face of likely abduction attempts, as Lebanon's Hizbullah threatened to avenge Tuesday's assassination of a senior commander in Damascus.
Israel also ordered its military and embassies to go on alert Thursday, and advised Jewish institutions worldwide to follow suit, hours after Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israeli targets. "You have killed Hajj Imad outside the normal battleground. You used to fight us here on our land. Today you went outside the border. I will quote something from the July 2006 war when I addressed you saying that If you wanted it to be an open war then let it be an open war, and I had promised victory to the believers. Today I tell you that in front of the time, style and location of this killing, if you want this kind of open war, then let it be an open war of this kind," Nasrallah stressed.
Israel on Wednesday denied involvement in the killing of Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a car bombing Tuesday in the Syrian capital. Israel's Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi put forces on heightened alert, instructing them to take the necessary precautions by air, land and sea in order to protect the northern border and other Israeli interests, the army said Thursday, according to Haaretz. Soldiers were ordered to be on guard for attacks on both the border with Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying that "Hizbullah is accusing Israel again and again in the death of Mughniyah. Therefore, the danger of Hizbullah carrying out terror attacks against Israeli targets abroad is escalating."
Earlier, the Hizbullah leader warned Israel. "They (Israelis) see in his martyrdom a great accomplishment and we see in it a good sign for the coming victory. This was the case with the martyrdom of our leaders Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Sayyed Abbas Moussawi."
Nasrallah added that when Sheikh Harb was martyred the resistance got stronger and forced Israeli occupation forces into the security zone.
"When Sayyed Moussawi was martyred the resistance grew stronger and a few years later the Israelis withdrew from most of Lebanon, humiliated and broken. Today they killed Hajj Imad and they think that killing him would cause the resistance to crash down in the course of the July 2006 war that is not over yet on the political, media and material levels and still backed by the same people. But they are mistaken. With the blood of martyr Imad we must begin to write the history of fall of Israel in the very near future. The blood of martyrs Harb and Moussawi drove them out of Lebanon and the blood of martyr Imad Mughniyah will drive them out of existence," Nasrallah stressed.
The Shiite leader explained that his speech was not based on emotions but on what the founder of the Jewish state, David Ben Gorion, said. "You all know that the founder of Israel, Ben Gorion, who knows better than any other Israeli the strength and weakness of this entity, said that the Israel will fall down after the first defeat. Israel fought its war in July 2006 and was defeated as acknowledged by the Winograd commission. Israel lost its first war, why? Simply because its army faced a sincere and brave resistance for 33 days…Because Imad Mughniyah, his brothers and his pupils were fighting them. Israel lost its first war and will fall down soon." the Hizbullah chief said.
Nasrallah warned Israel that it committed an extremely "foolish" move by killing Moghniyeh. "I tell the Israelis, and the body of martyr Imad is still lying before us, Hizbullah is not weak. The martyr's brothers will take over his Jihad. The blood of martyr Imad only makes us stronger and gives us additional motive to continue the road with a wider perspective. What I promised you in the past was fulfilled at the hands of martyr Imad and his brothers.
Today the resistance is fully prepared to confront any possible Israeli war. Yesterday I was speaking about rockets but today I will speak about fighters. Winograd said that a few thousand fighters confronted the strongest Israeli army in the region for several weeks. After Hajj Imad's martyrdom, what will be waiting for you in any coming war will be a stronger Hezbollah. Hajj Imad has left you tens of thousands of very well trained fighters who are more than ready for martyrdom," the Shiite leader conveyed.
