Hezbollah: We'll Hit Israel Ships In New War
BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group warned Tuesday that his fighters would attack Israeli ships in the Mediterranean if the Jewish state imposes a sea blockade on Lebanon in any future war.
Hassan Nasrallah said his Iranian-backed group is now capable of destroying any military or commercial ships heading to Israeli ports.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 during which Israel imposed a sea and air embargo on Lebanon, saying it needed to prevent the guerrillas from being resupplied with weapons.
Nasrallah said Tuesday that Hezbollah now had the capability to inflict as much harm on Israel as it did in Lebanon during the 2006 war.
"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 Hezbollah 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."
"When the world sees how these ships will be destroyed in the regional waters of occupied Palestine, nobody will dare go there anymore," Nasrallah added.
During the 2006 fighting, Hezbollah slammed about 4,000 rockets into Israel, while Israel bombed the group's strongholds in Lebanon's south and east as well as its headquarters in the suburb of Dahiyeh south of the capital Beirut. The war killed around 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel.
Israel also accused Hezbollah of firing an anti-ship cruise missile that hit an Israeli warship in the war, killing four servicemen. The ship's missile detection and deflection system was not on during the attack, apparently because the sailors did not anticipate Hezbollah had such capability.
The ship – one of the most technologically advanced in the Israeli fleet at the time – boasted an array of high-tech missiles and a system for electronically jamming incoming missiles and other threats.
Nasrallah stressed his group did not want a new war but warned Israel it would incur heavy losses in case it starts a new conflict.
The rally held Tuesday marks 10 years since Israeli troops withdrew from a border strip in south Lebanon, ending a 22-year military presence there.
The anniversary coincides with rising tensions in the region over Israeli claims that Hezbollah 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.
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ZEINA KARAM 05/25/10 06:03 PM ET Associated Press