Hizbullah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, warned Tuesday that Israel was planning an attack on Lebanon and Syria to coincide with an American strike against Iraq.
"I want to sound the alarm bell and say that we smell from these daily Israeli accusations preparations for an aggression on Lebanon and subsequently, on Syria to coincide with a possible and expected American aggression on Iraq," Nasrallah told a gathering in Beirut.
Nasrallah promised that such Israeli aggression would result in a Lebanese victory “greater than … in May 2000.”
“Everything the Israelis say in this context involves preparing the ground regionally and internationally to carry out such an act,” Nasrallah said, according to The Daily Star. “This is the policy employed by the United States, whose new strategy is the preventative strike. The idea of a preventative strike to confront what they call terrorism has become an acceptable idea internationally.”
Nasrallah also said his group has bolstered its military capabilities since Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in 2000 and is capable of repulsing any Israeli assault. “Yes, we have become stronger than we were during the liberation in 2000,” he added. “The victory we look forward to will have greater and more dangerous strategic effects.”
Hizbullah has refused to confirm or deny Israeli claims that it had acquired from Iran new, long-range missiles.
Commenting on the missiles' claims, Nasrallah said, without elaborating: "The Israelis have been saying during these past years that Hizbullah has become stronger than it was before. We have followed a no-comment policy." "The Israeli enemy must understand that its war on Lebanon is more difficult and complicated than it can imagine," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
