Israel Warns Hizbullah: Don't Test Us

by **Admin** Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:44 am

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday warned Hizbullah against testing Israel along its heavily guarded northern border.

"The soldiers of the Israeli army are watching everything that occurs near the frontier with Lebanon and I would not advise anyone to test Israel, which is the strongest country in the region," Barak told public radio.

Barak made the remarks while on an inspection tour of the border, where Hizbullah militants seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006, kicking off a 34-day war.

Israel has been on high alert following the end of a 40-day mourning period for top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a February 12 bombing in Damascus that the Shiite group blamed on the Jewish state.

Israel welcomed Mughniyeh's death but denied any responsibility.

According to public radio, Barak told parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defense committee at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that "Hizbullah continues to build up arms, with the help of Iran."

The 34-day conflict ended under a U.N.-brokered ceasefire after more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.