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Hizbollah declares open war on Israel

Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah speaks through a videotaped message broadcast over a giant screen in Beirut on Thursday.

DUBAI: Top Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said that the assassination of the group’s military commander in Damascus would mark the beginning of the collapse of Israel.

Addressing a mammoth funeral rally in south Beirut, Mr. Nasrallah said Israel had committed a grave mistake by assassinating commander Mughniyeh.

Mughniyeh was killed in a late night car bombing in a car park in an upscale district of Damascus on Tuesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was present at the funeral.

Implying that Hizbollah was now free to openly confront Israel at any part of the globe, Mr. Nasrallah said the Israelis had “killed Mughniyeh in Damascus outside the confrontation terrain... if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world hear it, let it be open war.”

He said the “blood and martyrdom” of those who had fought Israel would “lead to the failure of this cancerous entity [Israel] that has been planted in the heart of Arab nations.” Mr. Nasrallah cited the names of former Hizbollah leaders Abbas Moussawi, Ragheb Harb and the two brothers of Mughniyeh — all killed by Israel, as martyrs who had imparted greater strength to the Hizbollah movement.

Mughniyeh was accused of masterminding several attacks, including the 1983 targeting of military barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S Marines.

This incident led to the exit of American forces from Lebanon. Amid ringing chants of support from his supporters, Mr. Nasrallah said the killing of Mughniyeh meant that the war against Israel, fought in July-August 2006, was not yet over.

He said Hizbollah had begun preparations against a second Israeli assault; a day after the 33-day war in the summer of 2006 had ended.

Referring to the Winograd report — an internal Israeli inquiry on the 33-day war, which said that Hizbllah had may thousand fighters in its ranks, Mr. Nasrallah said this assessment was flawed.

“Let the Israelis hear me well: In any war, you wouldn’t face one Imad Mughniyeh, but tens of thousands of Imad Mughniyehs”.

Accusing the pro-Western Lebanese leaders of seeking “foreign armies” to fight Hizbollah, Mr. Nasrallah said Lebanon would never turn pro-Israel or pro-America. He vowed to “proceed with the resistance until total victory is achieved.”

Earlier, hundreds of thousands of supporters assembled at another rally organised by the March 14 forces, marking the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

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