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Hezbollah threatens attack on Tel Aviv
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group would target Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut. The threat comes after members of Hezbollah killed seven people in a barrage of 100 rockets on Israel and four Israeli soldiers in fighting in Lebanon, in the deadliest day of the war for Israel. Sheikh Nasrallah said rocket attacks would cease if Israel halted its bombing campaign in Lebanon. "If you strike Beirut, the Islamic Resistance will strike Tel Aviv and it is able to do so," Sheikh Nasrallah said, in the first apparent confirmation that Hezbollah has longer-range missiles capable of hitting the city 130 kilometres from the border. "(If) at any time you decide to stop your campaigns on our cities, suburbs, civilians and infrastructure, we won't strike with rockets any settlement or Israeli city ..." Israel promised to destroy Lebanon's infrastructure in response. The latest barrages showed Hezbollah was still a potent threat to Israel despite Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's declaration on Wednesday that Israel had destroyed its infrastructure. "Israel will actively seek out and pursue Hezbollah until these murderous attacks cease and quiet is restored to northern Israel," said David Baker, an official in Mr Olmert's office. Despite 23 days of an intensive air and ground campaign to wipe them out, Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets into Israel on Wednesday, its most intense one-day barrage of the conflict. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the war had killed 900 people in Lebanon and wounded 3,000, with a third of the casualties children under 12. He said a million Lebanese, a quarter of the population, had been displaced and infrastructure devastated. The Reuters tally of Lebanon deaths is at least 683. Sixty-six Israelis have been killed in the war including 40 soldiers. Israel lowered the number of people killed in rocket strikes to seven after earlier reporting eight. The Israeli army has carved out a "security zone" of 20 villages in south Lebanon up to six kilometres from the border and will stay until an international force arrives, Israeli TV said. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-08-03 |
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