VIDEO - A senior Hizbullah official said Tuesday his group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers last month.
Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of the Hizbullah politburo, also told The Associated Press that his group would not lay down arms. His comments were the first time that a leader from the terror organization had suggested it failed to calculate the consequences of the July 12 cross-border raid that seized the two soldiers.
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| Day of air strikes, ground operations (Video: Reuters) |
"The truth is - let me say this clearly - we didn't even expect (this) response.... That (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Komati. He said Hizbullah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel.
In the past, he said, Israeli reponses to Hizbullah actions included sending in commandos into Lebanon and taking Hizbullah officials into custody or briefly targeting specific Hizbullah strongholds in southern Lebanon. He said his group had also anticipated negotiations to swap the soldiers with three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it has in past prisoner exchanges.
Hizbullah casualties
Komati also gave higher casualty figures for the guerrillas than the 11 the group has reported so far in the 13-day-old conflict. He said that as of Monday 25 had been killed, including 17 in ground fighting with Israeli troops.
Later Tuesday, Hizbullah announced the deaths of two more guerrillas in the border fighting, bringing the total toll to 27. Israel has said Hizbullah is greatly underreporting its casualties. The Israeli army chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Udi Nehushtan, said Tuesday in Jerusalem that "some dozens" of Hizbullah fighters were killed in past two weeks.
Over the weekend, Israel seized the border village of Maroun al-Ras in heavy fighting. On Monday its troops advanced to the nearby town of Bint Jbeil, which it has sealed off as it continues to battle up to 200 Hizbullah fighters hunkered down inside.
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