Netanyahu Hits Back at Nasrallah, Says Hizbullah Can't Conquer Galilee
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hizbullah on Wednesday against any attack, after the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to take over the Galilee in northern Israel.
"Nasrallah declared today that he will conquer the Galilee," said Netanyahu. "I have news for him. He won't."
His remarks came after Nasrallah urged his fighters to be prepared to take the Galilee in any future conflict and warned that Hizbullah operatives were ready to kill Israeli leaders "anytime, anywhere."
"There is no doubt Israel has the ability to defend itself," Netanyahu told delegates at a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.
"We have a strong army and a determined people. We seek peace but the army is ready to defend Israel against its enemies."
Nasrallah's threats were made during a televised speech on the 19th anniversary of the assassination of former Hizbullah chief Abbas al-Moussawi who was killed in a 1992 Israeli airstrike.
"I call on the mujahedin of the Islamic Resistance to stand ready to take over the Galilee should a war be imposed on Lebanon," said Nasrallah.
He also vowed that the death of Imad Mughniyeh, a top party operative assassinated in a 2008 car bombing blamed on Israel, would not be forgotten or go unpunished.
"To the Zionist generals, I say: Anywhere you go in the world, at any time, watch out, for the blood of Imad Mughniyeh will not go in vain," he said.
The Hizbullah leader's fiery rhetoric followed remarks by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the Israeli military may have to invade Lebanon again to ensure the Shiite armed group remembered the "lessons" of the 2006 war.
"Even though it's quiet and deterrence exists -- Hizbullah remembers the heavy beating they suffered from us in 2006 -- it is not forever, and you may be called to go back again," Barak told Israeli troops on Tuesday during a tour of the Lebanon border with the new military Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.
"We must be prepared for every test," he said. "The secret is reacting fast in the event that something happens, and within seconds, translating everything you learned in your training."
The 2006 war killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Every year around the anniversary of the assassinations of Mughniyeh and Moussawi, Israel issues a travel warning and puts its overseas embassies on alert for fear of reprisal attacks.
On Tuesday, Israel temporarily closed four of its diplomatic missions after receiving "threats" they could come under attack.
And last week, Israel's anti-terrorism bureau warned against travel to Egypt and eight other countries, saying there was an increased threat of attacks against Israelis and Jewish targets in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Turkey and Venezuela.
Source: Agence France Presse
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