Hezbollah set for open war as retaliation for Mugniyah assassination
Hezbollah has completed preparations to launch an attack on Israel to avenge the assassination of Imad Mugniyah, a top Hezbollah operative assassinated by a car bomb in February in Damascus, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday.
“Hezbollah is ready to avenge the killing of its senior official, Imad Mugniyah, when the stage is set,” al-Rai quoted military sources close to Hezbollah as saying.
“Hezbollah and its allies should be well prepared for an open war, because such a war would affect the whole region,” the source added.
“The upcoming war would be destructive for both sides … [Israel’s] inner front would be a target for short- and long-range missiles. The Israeli air force, which is the main pillar of Israeli military forces, would face real threat, as so would the navy and the army,” al-Rai reported.
“Any decision of war by the Israeli government is tantamount to suicide,” the source said.
Al-Rai reported that Hezbollah spent 800 million dollars on military preparations for a supposed open war in the South and Beqaa.
The source said that avenging Mugniyah’s assassination was a “reality” as Hezbollah could not hesitate in preventing Israel from propagating assassinations and had to face “daily Israeli threats to destruct Lebanon and its infrastructure.”
A Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon also said Hezbollah would avenge Mugniyah soon “and the retaliation will be excruciating.”
During a Hamas rally in Burj al-Chamaly, Sheikh Ahmed Murad announced that there would be “enormous surprises.”
“Israel and its generals will not enjoy peace … Hezbollah will maintain its arms until Palestine is liberated … and Israel will be whipped off the regional map,” Murad said.
Earlier this week, AFP reported that a number of Israeli leaders issued warnings to Lebanon.
"The moment the Lebanese government confers legitimacy on Hezbollah, it must understand that the entire Lebanese state will be a target in the same way that all of Israel is a target for Hezbollah," AFP quoted Environment Minister Gideon Ezra as saying on Wednesday.
The news agency also quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as having said, "During the war in Lebanon we had a massive capacity that we refrained from using because we were fighting a terrorist organization and not a state, but if Lebanon becomes a Hezbollah state we will not be so restrained.”