Last update - 00:00 27/02/2007
Hezbollah says group preparing in case of IDF attack on Lebanon
By The Associated Press
The deputy chief of Hezbollah warned Tuesday that any military adventure by the United States and Israel against Iran would have dangerous consequences across the Mideast, and said the group was preparing in case of an Israeli attack on Lebanon.
Sheik Naim Kassem suggested his pro-Iranian group would not get involved if the U.S. attacks Iran, but he raised the possibility that Israel might attack Lebanon as part of any assault on Iran - in which case, he said, Hezbollah would definitely respond.
He said Hezbollah guerrillas were making contingency plans in case Israel attacks Lebanon.
"The resistance is taking all the necessary measures to be ready and prepared," Kassem said in an interview with The Associated Press. He would not elaborate but said Hezbollah is constantly changing its fighting tactics so the Israelis would not know its capabilities.
"We've evaluated the experience of the war and learned lessons from it and are taking steps to accommodate them with new realities," he said. "We are making sure the enemy will be in the dark in the future. This is the strength of the resistance and the secret of its success."
"It doesn't mean that we expect a war or an aggression this year," he said. "But it doesn't mean it could not happen in the near or medium future. We cannot see the complete picture now."
The United States insists it is not planning to attack Iran and is trying to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, as demanded by the United Nations. But fear of a strike is growing throughout the Middle East.
Kassem, a Shiite Muslim cleric, warned that an assault on Iran could expand across the region.
"It remains to be seen what the level of an American aggression on Iran would be, he said. "Is it going to be limited or an all-out war? Will other countries become involved? Will it spread to the entire region? ... Will they expand their aggression to other areas, including perhaps Lebanon?"
Asked if the U.S. attacked Iran, Hezbollah would retaliate by striking Israel, Kassem said Iran is capable of defending itself because it possesses the "means, a tenacious populace and a wise leadership."
Iran has threatened to attack the hundreds of thousands of U.S. forces based in the Persian Gulf and in Iraq if America launches an attack.
Kassem warned, "we will definitely respond and defend ourselves if Israel attacks Lebanon. Israel could instead attack Iran and then drag Lebanon into the conflict by carrying out a preventive strike on it to cover its back," he said, speculating that Israel might carry out a limited strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Kassem's comments aimed to counter speculation that Hezbollah may stir up trouble in the region - including attacking Israel - if Iran is attacked.
"In general the region is on fire because of American and Israeli aggressions. They have to know that any military adventure, if widened and involves several countries in the region, would have dangerous consequences for everyone," said Kassem, who is the deputy of Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah has been locked in a power-struggle for months with the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. The Shi'ite group and its allies are demanding a new government in which they would have greater power. Washington has dramatically beefed up support for Saniora, who has rejected the opposition's demands.
Kassem blamed the United States for the deadlock, saying it is pressuring Siniora to refuse a compromise. "Washington's goal is to undermine Hezbollah's resistance against Israel," he said.
"But we believe Lebanon's independence is only achieved by the resistance," added Kassem.
He dismissed Lebanese and American government charges that Hezbollah was a tool of Iran and Syria. "Damascus and Tehran benefit from Hezbollah's role in anti-Israel resistance, but they are not directing the resistance," Kassem said. "In contrast the [Siniora] government is directly dictated by the Americans," he said.
Hezbollah battled the Israel Defense Forces for 34 days in last summer's war, sparked by the group's capture of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in a cross border raid.
A UN resolution that ended the fighting bans the group from rearming and calls for it to eventually be disarmed, but does not immediately demand it.
Hezbollah insists that the government must abide by its own policy, proclaimed in 2005, that affirmed the right of the group to continue its efforts to free remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south and confront Israeli threats.
In the interview, Kassem reiterated Hezbollah's refusal to disarm but said that his group adhered to the UN cease-fire resolution, which bars any military presence south of the Litani River except for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
"Lebanon remains in the danger circle and Israel still represents the enemy which has ambitions in Lebanon," he said. "So it's only natural for the resistance to be on alert and ready for any emergency."
UN envoy, Lebanon PM discuss cease-fire
A senior UN envoy began talks in Beirut on Tuesday with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the war last August.
The visit by the UN Secretary General's Special Adviser to the Middle East, Michael Williams, comes ahead of a key report on Lebanon that the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, will deliver to the Security Council on March 16.
After talks with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Williams said he was satisfied at the level of cooperation and coordination between the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon.
More than 12,000 UN peacekeepers and around 15,000 Lebanese army troops patrol a buffer zone in south Lebanon after the August 14 cease-fire resolution.
Under the terms of the resolution, the troops are tasked with asserting control over the region and preventing weapons from reaching the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militants.
Williams, who arrived here after visiting Israel, said he and Saniora also discussed Lebanese concerns over an increase in Israeli overflights, which Beirut considers a violation of the UN Resolution 1701 but Israel deems necessary to monitor Hezbollah activities and make sure the group is not rearming.
"I reported to the prime minister that this question ... had been raised forcefully in our meetings with all our interlocutors in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem," he told reporters but did not elaborate.
Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at Israeli warplanes over southern Lebanon last week, marking the first time the Lebanese military had fired at Israeli aircraft since the July-August war. It indicated the army is taking a more assertive role with Israel, which has flown reconnaissance missions over Lebanon for years despite protests from the Beirut government.
Police: Bombs confiscated near Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon
Authorities have confiscated 31 sets of highly sophisticated explosive devices near a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, police said Tuesday.
In a statement, police said a squad of its intelligence branch carried out the raid in an area near the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp during which the devices, which include electrochemical detonators, were taken.
The detonating devices were highly advanced and could be timed to explode
after a period of up to 124 days, police said.
The statement did not say when the raid was carried out but said police had been working on information that a terrorist organization in the Ein el-Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon was planning to smuggle sophisticated explosive material outside the camp to be used in terrorist attacks. The raid was carried out after intense surveillance of the area, the statement said.
Ein el-Hilweh is the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps and is renowned for its lawlessness. A number of fugitives are known to reside inside the camp, which is off limits to Lebanese authorities.
Police on Tuesday also said they defused an explosive charge attached to a timer in an abandoned apartment in a neighborhood east of the Lebanese
capital. The charge was made up of nine sticks of TNT attached to an electric timer and detonator.
The announcements come amid rising security concerns in Lebanon, with
authorities announcing the discovery of abandoned explosives and detonators almost daily. The findings also stoked fears gripping residents of the Lebanese capital and its vicinity after twin bus bombings that killed three passengers earlier this month and street clashes in January amid the months' long political standoff between the government and opposition.
Beirut has been hit by a series of bomb attacks in the last two years. The biggest was a suicide truck bombing that killed former premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005.