Calm Nasrallah Reassures Followers that Israel Would Cease to Exist

by **Admin** Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:00 am

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday pledged that Israel is heading towards "more defeats", reiterating that the Jewish state would be "punished" and would cease to exist.

He also stressed that it is the right of Imad Mughniyeh's followers to avenge the death of their leader, who was killed by a Feb. 12 bomb blast in Damascus that Nasrallah has blamed on Israel.

Whoever killed "our martyr (Mughniyeh) should be punished, and would be punished. We would set the time, method and place for the punishment," Nasrallah said addressing a rally in south Beirut's Rweiss district.

He predicted that the Israeli Army "wouldn't dare launch an overland attack" against Hizbullah in Lebanon, noting that "they did not even dare launch a major incursion into Gaza."

"The Israelis would discover during any confrontation what a stupid act they committed by killing Mughniyeh," Nasrallah vowed.

A war by Israel, according to Nasrallah, "would not be a picnic because 85% of the Lebanese support efforts to topple the Zionist Entity."

He said it is "not a simple option for the United States to attack Iran or for Israel to attack Syria."

He addressed concerns among his supporters following a declaration of "open war" against Israel during Mughniyeh's funeral on Feb. 14.

"It is normal for the people to worry … but the Israelis are worried too," Nasrallah said.

The Israeli people, he said, "couldn't stand living in shelters for 33 days." Nasrallah was referring to the Hizbullah-Israel war in the summer of 2006.

Nasrallah said the Hizbullah-led opposition that groups supporters of Syria and Iran "wants the best for Lebanon … We want partnership."

Despite the Mughniyeh assassination, Hizbullah "did not interrupt negotiations" to swap prisoners with Israel. "It is the martyr's wish to see his brethren free," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah told his followers: "You are the generation that would witness the final victory of our nation."

Picture: An image grab taken from the Hezbollah-run Manar TV shows Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite Muslim Lebanese militant group, delivering a speech in Beirut to mark the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imad Mughnieh, a top Hezbollah commander killed in a car bombing in Damascus last month. (AFP/Manar TV)