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Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed to fire rockets into Israel beyond Haifa. (AP)
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| By Associated Press July 26, 2006 |
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Hezbollah's leader, looking tired, vowed Wednesday that his guerrillas would begin firing rockets deeper into Israel, beyond Haifa. One of his deputies acknowledged that Hezbollah had not been expecting an all-out Israeli onslaught after the capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah appeared in a taped speech on the group's Al-Manar TV, deriding U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic push to end the crisis and saying the U.S. and Israel sought to impose a "new Middle East" without resistance to Israel.
"In the new stage, our attacks will not remain limited to Haifa. Regardless of the reaction of the enemy forces on the rocketing of Haifa, we will move to the stage of 'beyond Haifa,"' the bearded and black-turbanned Shiite cleric said.
Guerrillas have battered Haifa with deadly rocket fire. So far the port, Israel's third largest city located 25 miles has been on the outer edge of the rocket fire.
Nasrallah suggested he had not been surprised by the massive 13-day Israeli offensive against Lebanon after guerrillas snatched the two Israelis in a July 12 cross-border raid. He said Israel had been planning to attack his forces in southern Lebanon by October but were forced to move early by the capture.
But Mahmoud Komati, the deputy chief of the Hezbollah politburo, suggested that Hezbollah commanders had miscalculated the consequences of their raid, which also killed eight Israeli soldiers.
"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 Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel -- such as using commando raids to snatch guerrilla officials or briefly target specific Hezbollah strongholds in the south.
He said his group had also anticipated negotiations to swap the soldiers for three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it has in past prisoner exchanges.
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 were killed, including 17 in ground fighting with Israeli troops assaulting several south Lebanese border towns since the weekend.
Later Tuesday, Hezbollah announced the deaths of two more guerrillas in the border fighting, bringing the total toll to 27. Israel says the Hezbollah toll is much higher.
Asked about reports that Hezbollah was firing Iranian-made missiles on Israel, Komati said: "We don't deny nor confirm. We believe where the weapons come from is irrelevant."
In the past, Hezbollah leaders always categorically denied that Iran was supplying them with weapons.
Nasrallah's speech was carefully timed to distract attention from U.S. attempts to win international approval for its and Israel's position. Rice and other key Mideast players gathered in Rome to discuss proposals for ending the fighting that has claimed more than 400 lives.
Key issues were how to disarm Hezbollah and assemble an international peacekeeping force to enforce the peace along the Israel-Lebanon frontier.
During her visits to Beirut and Israel this week, Rice repeatedly said there was no place in "a new Middle East" for Hezbollah or other Islamist groups bent on Israel's destruction. She backed Israel's refusal to negotiate a quick cease-fire.
Nasrallah appeared to be counting growing international anger at the U.S.-Israeli position to force a stop to fighting and urged his people to be patient.
"Our steadfastness will change the regional and international reality around us. The enemy won't have a lot of time, no matter what cover the American administration is providing it," Nasrallah said, in a fiery address also was carried by Lebanese television stations and Arab satellite channels.
Nasrallah said his organization was ready to discuss an end to the fighting. But he rejected "the imposition of any humiliating conditions on us, our people or our country ... especially after all these sacrifices."
He mocked Rice's talk of "new Middle East."
"The new Middle East means a region controlled by the U.S. administration which unilaterally runs its (the region's) affairs and resources with Israel being its prime partner," he said.
"In the new Middle East, the Palestinian cause should be liquidated ... there is no place for any resistance movement. The resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon must be eliminated," he said.
Despite Israel's and Hezbollah's claims over the number of guerrillas killed, it was not possible to independently determine the number or sometimes to distinguish between civilians and fighters.
The Health Ministry said Tuesday that 375 civilians have been killed in the campaign, in addition to 20 Lebanese soldiers. The Hezbollah claim on the death toll would bring the total to 422 dead in Lebanon. The number is an increase over the latest toll from security forces because the ministry counts those who die later in the hospital. On Tuesday, eight people were confirmed killed -- six civilians and the two Hezbollah fighters.
At least 42 Israelis have been killed in the campaign, including 24 soldiers.
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