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Last update - 00:00 12/07/2008
Hezbollah: Second Lebanon War was biggest Israeli defeat ever
By Haaertz Service
Tags: Israel, Gilad Shalit, IDF 

Hezbollah's deputy secretary general Naim Qassem on Saturday said that the Second Lebanon War was the greatest defeat of Israel ever, Army Radio reported.

"Israel today is beaten and frustrated. And the United States also finds itself in defeats and problems, Qassem told a rally marking the war's second anniversary.

According to Army Radio, the rally was held in the Shi'ite Dahiya quarter of south Beirut, where Hezbollah headquarters were situated during the war and which was bombed heavily by the Israel Air Force.
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He also said the Lebanon-based guerrilla group had become a school for the release of prisoners.

Israel's prisoner exchange with Hezbollahfor Israel Defense Forces soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, kidnapped by the Lebanon-based guerilla group in 2006, is set to take place Wednesday or Thursday, barring any last-minute changes.

Also Saturday, a senior Hamas official on Saturday told an Arabic-language paper based in the Persian Gulf that the upcoming prisoner swap shows that abducting IDF soldiers is the best method to free Palestinians jailed in Israel, according to Israel Radio.

"The deal with Hezbollah proves again that the way to release prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers," Osama Hamdan, the senior Hamas official in Lebanon, told the Gulf-based newspaper.

Army Radio further reported Hamdan told the paper that every political attempt to free security prisoners had come to nothing, while the abduction of IDF soldier had in fact brought about the release of prisoners.

Hamas itself is conducting negotiations with Israel for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Gaza militants in June 2006.

The talks have reportedly been stalled recently due to disagreement between Israel and the Palestinian militant group over the prisoners Israel will release in exchange for Shalit.


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      1.   HOW TO FIGHT COWARDS? 14:18  |  Iskander 12/07/08
      2.   Who defeated whom? 15:15  |  Moshe 12/07/08
      3.   Memories of the Nazis marching under the Arch du Triumphe! 15:36  |  Murray the Mongoose 12/07/08
      4.   Who did what to who! 15:42  |  Jack be quick 12/07/08
      5.   Hamas likes Hezbollah? You do the math. 16:17  |  Joe Sittizen 12/07/08
      6.   This `defeat` brought destruction to LEBANON. Lebanese survived.. 16:40  |  Vittorio 12/07/08
      7.   Bla bla Hezbollah 17:32  |  Mark B. 12/07/08
      8.   Not as big a defeat as 17:44  |  Mark Lincoln 12/07/08
      9.   Hezbollah`s General Naim Qassem Is Mistaken 17:53  |  Dish It Out 12/07/08
      10.   Israel`s greatest defeat? 17:54  |  David Nigel Braham 12/07/08
      11.   biggest defeat: let N. be happy,he needs it! 17:55  |  Jacob 12/07/08
      12.   Israel Has never been defeated!!! 18:00  |  Baruch Gold 12/07/08
      13.   A Less Safe World for Jews 18:15  |  Steve 12/07/08
      14.   Israel certainly took a beating while killing mostly civilians 18:53  |  POP 12/07/08
      15.   israel is weak 19:19  |  john 12/07/08
      16.   If this is the `biggest defeat ever` then Hezbo is in trouble 21:13  |  Dan 12/07/08
      17.   The Greatest Defeat? 21:30  |  Mo Ham Ad 12/07/08
      18.   Then why Syria in such hurry to make peace? 21:48  |  Jewboy 12/07/08
      19.   I`ll take such losses anytime 22:17  |  peter 12/07/08
      20.   Why doeasn`t Nasrallah make statements like this in the open 22:30  |  PETER SM 12/07/08
      21.   to peter 22:37  |  jhon 12/07/08
      22.   The winners hold the land, the losers dash for the border 22:43  |  Natallie Durson 12/07/08
      23.   Waiting for Round 2 23:06  |  Mike 12/07/08
      24.   #9 john, if israel was weak it would not exist 23:35  |  dumb, but not as jon 12/07/08
      25.   this all sounds like 23:53  |  wh 12/07/08
      26.   #16 durson`s opportunity squandered 00:11  |  odles 13/07/08
      27.   Keep Dreaming 00:13  |  Tomer 13/07/08
      28.   #15 jhon`s inhumanity 00:19  |  odles 13/07/08
      29.   THAT`S BECAUSE MAD MERT IS THE BIGGEST LOSER EVER TO BE HEAD OVER 00:47  |  glenna 13/07/08
      30.   To the so called "Nathallie Durson" 01:42  |  Hansje 13/07/08
      31.   If Defeat,Then Hav`em Do It Again & Pay The Kidnapping Crime Pric 01:51  |  Joseph.E 13/07/08
      32.   Tit for tat..Kidnap Nasrallah and his team. 02:09  |  Stephen. 13/07/08
      33.   thats so sad its funny 02:10  |  James 13/07/08
      34.   And the Israelis want to attack Iran??? 02:57  |  maoriboy 13/07/08
      35.   can lebanon afford it? 04:33  |  natan 13/07/08
      36.   #12, JEWBOY, AGAIN ILL INFORMED 05:13  |  VIPER 13/07/08
      37.   # 27, MAORIBOY, as brothers 05:17  |  VIPER 13/07/08
      38.   James in Toronto 15:42  |  FreeOne 13/07/08
      39.   #22 False Premise 00:22  |  DesMnsDave 16/07/08
      40.   Hezbollah jhon 02:25  |  Bill Ellison 20/12/08
      41.   its sad but true ...truth hurts .. huh!!!! 04:56  |  kala 31/12/08
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