Nasrallah - Lebanon will not be isralized or americanized
Hezbollah leader: Lebanon will not be Israeli-Americanized
BEIRUT, Feb. 15 (MNA) -- Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stated on Thursday that “Lebanon will not be Americanized or Israelized.”
“In contrast to the will of political lightweights, Lebanon will remain the land of national dignity and it will never be Americanized and Israelized, and Israel with its defeat in the recent war, will also disappear from the map of the world,” Nasrallah told a large number of Lebanese people gathered in Beirut to say farewell to top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by a remote car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday.
Hezbollah and Iran have accused Israel of killing Mughniyeh. The Israeli Mossad spy service had been hunting him for two decades.
Nasrallah stated that “Mughniyeh’s blood is a preliminary step for the destruction of Israel.”
“The Zionists describe the martyrdom of Imad Muhgniyeh as a great victory, but I announce that this martyrdom heralds victory for us.”
Nasrallah added that when the Zionist occupiers assassinated Hezbollah leader Seyyed Abbas Musavi, they did not know “what effect the blood of martyr Abbas Musavi would have on consolidating the unity of the resistance party and forces.”
He said the Zionists have made a great mistake by assassinating Mughniyeh.
“It was due to this blood that some years later we drove the Zionists from the border lines, and now we announce that the blood of Mughniyeh will be the beginning of the end for the Zionist regime.”
Part of Lebanon was under Israeli occupation from 1982 to 2000.
“The Zionist enemy committed a very ignorant act, and the Israelis have tacitly acknowledged responsibility of it.”
Israel ordered its embassies on high alert and the FBI put U.S. terror squads on guard to protect Jewish institutions after Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate anywhere in the world for the assassination of one of its top commanders.
"Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," Nasrallah told throngs of fist-waving mourners, AP reported.
Thousands of black-clad mourners raised their fists in the air, chanting, "At your orders, Nasrallah" in response to Nasrallah.
Nasrallah said Israel has taken the fight outside the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon. "You have crossed the borders," he said.
Unlike Middle Eastern leaders who have indulged in exaggerated rhetoric, Nasrallah is known for acting on his threats. In 2006, he vowed to take action to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, and in July that year, Hezbollah resistance forces staged a daring cross-border raid that snatched two Zionist soldiers as bargaining chips.
The incident triggered a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah that ended in a military fiasco for Zionist leaders.
Hezbollah appoints successor to martyred commander
Hezbollah appointed a successor to its senior guerrilla commander, a Lebanese security source said on Friday, Reuters reported.
The source said the appointment was made hours after the announcement of Mughniyeh's death in a car bomb attack in Damascus on Tuesday.
He did not identify the successor, who would now command Hezbollah's formidable and well-armed guerrilla army.
A joint investigation into the bombing by Syrians, Iranians, and Hezbollah was well under way and suspects have been arrested in the Syrian capital, the source said.
"A successor to Imad Mughniyeh has been appointed, which is natural," said the source, who requested anonymity. "That's how Hezbollah works, they move quickly to choose successors for fallen leaders."
Legendary warrior
Mughniyeh gained legendary status in Hezbollah for a string of attacks on Israeli targets in Lebanon in the 1980s. He was the chief of a group that fought a 34-day war against Israel in 2006.
Joint investigation
The suspects arrested were mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, the Lebanese source said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki agreed with Syrian officials during a visit to Damascus on Thursday to set up a joint team to investigate the killing, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar said on Friday.
Mottaki also attended Mughniyeh's funeral in Beirut.
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