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Photo: AP
Says Hizbullah does not want to drag region into war. Nasrallah
Photo: AP
Photo: AFP
Thousands of Hizbullah supporters cheered Nasrallah on
Photo: AFP

'12,000 of our rockets can reach Israel'

Hizbullah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says ‘any hand that reaches out to our weapons is an Israeli hand that will be cut off’

BEIRUT - Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged Wednesday his organization had over 12,000 rockets capable of hitting the whole of northern Israel.

 

Nasrallah’s statement marks the first time an official Hizbullah source has disclosed specific information regarding the organization’s arsenal.

 

Under mounting international pressure to disarm, Nasrallah said Hizbullah would fight anyone who tried to take away its weapons.

 

"Any hand that reaches out to our weapons is an Israeli hand that will be cut off," he told supporters on the fifth anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

 

"We do not want to attack anyone and will not allow anyone to attack Lebanon; but if anyone, anyone, thinks of disarming the resistance we will fight them like the martyrs of Kerbala," Nasrallah said, referring to a battle in Islamic history central to Shiites.

 

The largely Shiite Muslim residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, celebrated Nasrallah's words with fireworks and cheering, witnesses said.

 

Nasrallah told thousands of supporters in the town of Bint Jbeil, part of a southern strip Israel occupied for 22 years, that Hizbullah, backed by Syria and Iran, would only use its weapons in defense of Lebanon.

 

"We do not want to drag the region into a war...We want to protect our country..." he said. "Any thought of disarming the resistance is madness."

 

Hizbullah's terror attacks were instrumental in prompting Israel to pull its troops out of the south in May 2000.

 

A United Nations Security Council resolution adopted in September demanded that Syrian forces pull out and all militias in Lebanon disarm. Damascus withdrew its forces in April.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.25.05, 20:44
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