Israel Matzav

Nasrallah vows 'more surprises,' pleads for aid

Hezbullah chieftain Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah appeared on television this afternoon in a bid to quash rumors that he had been injured in an IDF bombing this morning. Nasrallah called on Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support Hezbullah, saying that the Shiite group was fighting on their behalf and that the battle has just began.

Nasrallah accused Israel of targeting civilians, while claiming that Hezbullah has been trying to limit its rocket fire to military bases. You've got to be kidding.

Nasrallah looked pale during his speech on Hezbullah's Al-Manar TV, saying that Hezbollah terrorists were at their "full strength" and that the group had "no choice" but to hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa with rockets Sunday after Israel struck civilians in Lebanon. Someone needs to remind him of the two rockets that hit Haifa on Thursday that he is still denying.

"As long as the enemy acts without limitations, it is our right to act similarly," he said.

"Israel doesn't know our capabilities on every level. The Zionist enemy has not succeeded in infiltrating our group."

Nasrallah painted the battle as a chance for the Arab and Islamic world to defeat Israel.

"You Arab and Muslim people must take a position toward your future, the future of your children. The peoples of the Arab and Islamic world have a historic opportunity to score a defeat against the Zionist enemy ...we are providing the example.

"Hezbollah is not fighting a battle for Hezbollah or even for Lebanon but for the Islamic nation."

He also denied Israeli claims that Iran had sent members of its elite Revolutionary Guards to help Hezbollah. (Reports in the media here have indicated that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard fired the missiles that hit the Hanit on Friday night in Beirut Harbor).

"I completely deny the presence of any Iranian troops," he said. "Lebanese are the ones firing these weapons …They talk about Iranians to diminish and humiliate us as Lebanese and Arabs that we don't have the capabilities and experience."

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:41 PM