Haaretz: shamelessly reports Hezbollah will attack Israel

April 27,2008

Report: Hezbollah man says new attack on Israel is question of 'when, not if'

By Haaretz Service

Tags: Iran, Israel, Syria

Two years after the Second Lebanon War, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization has bolstered its recruitment efforts at an unprecedented rate in preparation for a fresh war with Israel, The Guardian reported Sunday.

The report quoted an unnamed Hezbollah fighter as saying: "It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah [Hezbollah chief] commands us" to attack.

According to the report, the Islamist group has of late been sending "hundreds, if not thousands" of recruits to training camps in Lebanon, Syria and Iran in ancticipation of conflict with Israel.

"The villages in the south are empty of men," an international official was quoted as saying. "They are all gone, training in Bekaa, Syria and Iran."

Israel and the Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006, sparked by the militant group's cross-border raid and abduction of two Israel Defense Forces reservists.

During the conflict, Hezbollah launched some 4,000 rockets at northern Israel and was said to have thousands more in its reserves. The numbers of casualties on both sides have been disputed, particularly in terms of the Islamist group's loss of manpower.

Meanwhile, the UN reported last month that Hezbollah is rearming and has an arsenal including 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon.

A resurgence of Hezbollah fighters has been encountered recently in southern Lebanon, despite an international ban on the Islamist group's presence in the contentious area.

Hezbollah militants warded off members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) last month when the peacekeepers discovered a truck carrying weapons and ammunition belonging to the Lebanon-based guerilla group.

The incident was the first time that UNIFIL forces were confronted by armed Hezbollah men south of Lebanon's Litani River, an area which Security Council resolution 1701 prohibits Hezbollah from entering.

Israel has expressed dissatisfaction with the way resolution is being implemented, particularly in the way Hezbollah has been permitted to reinforce its position south of the Litani and to continue smuggling weapons from Syria and Iran.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978292.html