Wednesday, May 26, 2010

‘We will destroy Israel-bound ships’

Photo by: AP

'We will destroy Israel-bound ships'

By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST.COM STAFF
05/26/2010 00:04

Nasrallah threatens retribution if Israel imposes sea blockade in war.

BEIRUT — If Israel imposes a sea blockade on Lebanon in a future war between them, Hizbullah would attack Israeli ships in the Mediterranean, the organization's leader, Hassan Nasrallah warned Tuesday.

Nasrallah said his Iranian-backed group now had the capacity to inflict as much harm on Israel as it inflicted on Lebanon in 2006, and is capable of destroying any military or commercial ships heading to Israeli ports.

In the 2nd Lebanon War in 2006 Israel imposed a sea and air embargo on Lebanon to prevent Hizbullah from being resupplied with weapons.

"In any future war, if you blockade our coasts and ports, all the military, civil and commercial ships heading to ports in occupied Palestine along the Mediterranean will come under Hizbullah rocket attack," Nasrallah said.

Addressing supporters through a video link at a huge rally south of Beirut, Nasrallah repeated past threats that his group would rocket Tel Aviv airport and other strategic targets if Israel's military strikes Lebanese infrastructure as it did in 2006.

He added: "We are capable of targeting, striking and destroying your ships as they head to any port on the coast of occupied Palestine from north to south."

The anniversary coincides with rising tensions in the region over Israeli claims that Hizbullah has acquired Scud missiles from Syria and Iran. Syria has denied supplying the group with weapons, and Nasrallah refused to confirm or deny those claims.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=176476
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Nasrallah threatens to hit ships

Hezbollah leader threatens to target any vessel heading towards Israel in future war; Shiite group now able to inflict as much damage as that caused by Israel in Lebanon during 2006 war, he says

Reuters and Ynet

Latest Update:

05.25.10, 23:41 / Israel News

Lebanese rhetoric escalating: Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday the Shiite group would attack all military, civilian and commercial ships heading towards Israel's Mediterranean ports in any future war.

"If you (Israel) put our coasts under siege in any future war, I say all military, civilian and commercial ships heading to Palestine's coasts on the Mediterranean will be under the fire of the Islamic resistance fighters," he said via a video-link.

Hezbollah

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"(As for) those ships which will go to any port on the Palestinian coast from north to the south, (I say) we are capable of hitting it and are determined to go into this..if they besiege our coasts," he said.

"When the world will witness how these ships will be destroyed in Palestine's regional water nobody will dare to go there just as they will block (others) from coming to our coasts," he told thousands of supporters.

Earlier this year Nasrallah threatened to hit Israel's Ben Gurion airport if the Jewish state struck Beirut's international airport in any future conflict.

Hezbollah marks IDF pullout

Nasrallah added that Hezbollah now had the capability to inflict as much harm on Israel as it did in Lebanon during the 2006 war.

The Hezbollah leader made the remarks during the keynote event marking the 10th anniversary of the IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon, being held in the group's Dahiya stronghold in Beirut.

"We were the ones who forced upon the enemy the scenario, timing, and terms of its defeat and escape from Lebanon in 2000," he said, adding that the "victory" created a new equation in the region.

Nasrallah claimed that concerns and confusion are growing in Israel and that officials admit that the Jewish State is facing major challenges. This is why Israel "goes from one drill to the next," he said, adding that its main vulnerability and strategic problem is the Israeli fear of war and its results.

Nasrallah opened his speech by expressing his appreciation for Lebanese killed in clashes with Israel, mostly focusing on his predecessor Abbas Musawi and on top commander Imad Mugniyah, who were both assassinated by Israel.

In a speech last week, Hezbollah's secretary-general urged followers to impart the legacy of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon similarly to "what Israel does with the Holocaust, whether it indeed happened or not."