Army chief: Nasrallah will be more careful in his next speech

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz responded Monday to Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah's statements regarding the fighting in Lebanon, and said that in his next speech the Sheikh will be more careful about what he says.

"Bint Jbeil is a symbol of Hizbullah. Nasrallah gave a speech there and I assume that in his next speech, if there will be one, he will choose his words wisely," said Halutz during a visit to the Tel Hashomer base to meet with new army recruits.

Halutz said he estimates that in the area surrounding Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon there are a few hundred terrorists alongside 500 civilians who didn't evacuate the area despite IDF warnings.

"We are operating there with infantry corps and armored corps with aerial back up. Our goal is to hit the terrorists," the chief of staff said, describing the battles taking place since the morning hours between Maron al-Ras and Jabal Bint Jbal.

The chief of staff visited an IDF recruitment base. New recruits asked the chief of staff on the continuance of IDF activities in Lebanon and wanted to know whether the divisions they would join were already fighting on the northern front.

"Our activities are defined by targets and missions, and this is not a simple thing. But this is the heart of the IDF's operational capability," the chief of staff said.

"The ground activities alone are not designed to change the reality but it supports the other efforts we are making from the air, the sea, and intelligence. The aim is to strike the terrorists capture whoever can be taken. We do not want to kill them but we want them to stop the terror. Whoever says 'enough' and comes out with raised hands, we will be responsible for their fate and treat them as best as possible. The ones paying a heavy price on what is happening in southern Lebanon are residents of the Shiite villages which Hizbullah is holding as hostages. I can say that until now 75 percent of those residents have fled their homes," Halutz said.

Chief of staff chats with new recruits (Photo: Eli Elgart)

The chief of staff stressed that the IDF can operate for a long time in Lebanon, as long as necessary, and that there is action plan for long months.

"On the strategic level, enough aims have been obtained so that we have reached a very close level to what we set for ourselves. We are continuing to operate until we receive an order from the government to stop," he said.

Halutz said that "we are collecting goals accomplished every day and are harming the other side. Our measurement is not the number of Katyusha rockets – it could be that on the last day of fighting Katyusha rockets will still fall in Israel. We can't take out the last rockets from southern Lebanon and kill the last of the terrorists, but our central role is to provide a good starting point for the diplomatic process."

The chief of staff said that Hizbullah still had a collection of rockets, mainly short-range, but also long-range rockets. He did not rule out a scenario of the firing of rockets at Gush Dan (greater Tel Aviv) but did not give further details.