Halutz: We will not be blackmailed by terrorists
IDF chief of staff says following Air Force attack that destroyed Hizbullah Chief Nasrallah’s Beirut headquarters, “as a sovereign state, we cannot afford to be blackmailed by a terror organization; there are many more targets; are goal is to hurt Hizbullah and wait for the Lebanese government to take responsibility’
IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Friday a short while after an Israeli Air Force attack destroyed Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah’s Beirut headquarters, “as a sovereign state, we cannot afford to be blackmailed by a terror organization.”
Halutz spoke of “a wide-scale, intensive operation during which we hurt the Hizbullah organization. There are many more targets; are goal is to hurt Hizbullah and wait for the Lebanese government to take responsibility, which means the removal of Hizbullah from the border area and its replacement with another force –a force that represents Lebanese sovereignty.”
'Hizbullah destroyer of Lebanon'
As to the attack on the Shiite quarter in the Lebanese capital, a Hizbullah stronghold, Halutz said, “We will continue to strike this area to make it clear that Israel cannot allow a situation in which rockets are continuously fired at the country.”
"We are not assassinating and didn't want to target anyone specifically, but the Hizbullah infrastructure in Beirut," Halutz said.
"This operation has a number of targets: First of all, hitting the targets directly. Second, a message to Beirut and Lebanon that they swallowed a cancer that has to be regurgitated, and if not this country will pay a price as was in the past. It seems they are used to pay heavy prices when terrorists take over."
"Hizbullah took upon itself the responsibility to protect Lebanon but in fact it is acting like a destroyer of Lebanon which is paying a heavy price for what is taking place within its territory against the state of Israel – roads, bridges, an air port…there is also other infrastructure that a state can lose if it doesn't take control of what is happening in its territory."
He also spoke of the strength of Israel's Home Front Command: "We understand and our hearts are with all the citizens spending this evening, Shabbat, underground. We will do all to make sure that this stay is as short as possible so that all can return to their homes, their workplace."
