Hat Tip LGF. al-Reuters. Watch for spin. EFL
Israel said all Palestinian militant leaders were "in its sights" Tuesday and put its security forces on high alert to meet any retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top aides approved an order to target all senior militants after evil terrorist mastermind the wheelchair-bound cleric was kicked out of the universe assassinated in an Israeli missle strike outside a Gaza mosque Monday, security sources said. "Everyone is in our sights," Internal Security Minister Tsahi Hanegbi told reporters. "There is no immunity to anyone." Fearing attacks that Hamas has pledged to avenge Yassin, Israeli forces went on high alert. Previous assassinations triggered waves of suicide bombings on buses and cafes that killed scores of Israelis. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank rocket at an Israeli army position near a Jewish settlement, triggering a gun battle with Israeli forces, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israel’s army chief hinted that Palestinian Dictator-for-Life President Yasser Arafat and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah could end up on the hit list, though security sources said there was no immediate plan to kill either.
| "Not unless they pop their pointy little beturbanned heads up, anyway..." |
"I think that judging by their hysterical responses (to Yassin’s assassination) it appears they realize it is getting closer to them," General Moshe Yaalon told reporters. Hamas, sworn to destroy Israel, said it did not plan to change its strategy by carrying out attacks in other parts of the world. But fears grew that other Arab or Muslim groups might do so in outrage at Yassin’s killing. A statement purporting to come from an al-Qaeda linked group and published on an Islamist Internet site vowed to attack Israel’s ally the United States, which unlike many countries did not condemn the expulsion from the cosmos assassination. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade claimed responsibility for the Madrid attack on March 11. |