The problem of Hezbollah

Hezbollah represents a strategic threat because of their alliance with Iran. Israel would have to find a way to deal with Hezbollah so that in the event of a confrontation with Iran we do not face a war on several fronts.

 

The threat becomes more material as Hezbollah assumes control of the Lebanese government.

 

The prospect that Hezbollah could receive nuclear weapons from Iran at some time in the future is unappetizing to say the least.

 

The good news is that the assertion by Nasrallah that the next victory over Israel will be indisputable is an admission that the Second Lebanon War was not a decisive victory as he often claims.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

 Last update - 18:17 24/08/2008       
Nasrallah: Hezbollah's next victory over Israel will be indisputable
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

 

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that the Lebanon-based militant group would respond in a firm and decisive manner to any future Israeli aggression against Lebanon, and that its future victory over Israel would be "indisputable."

 

Nasrallah warned that the results and repercussions of another war will exceed that of the 34-day Second Lebanon War, which took place in the summer of 2006.

 

More than 1,200 Lebanese - most of them civilians - were killed in the 2006 war, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid. [the "captured" soldiers were dead - A.I.]
 
Nasrallah's televised remarks, aired on Hezbollah's Al-Manar Television at a graduation ceremony, came after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last Tuesday that Israel would "unleash all its force" if Hezbollah guerillas attacked again.

 

Olmert said Israel would utilize the massive firepower at its disposal if Lebanon were to become a terrorist state under the domination of Hezbollah.

 

Nasrallah responded Sunday, saying, "I tell you as someone who knows the resistance [Hezbollah] and its arsenal, and its quantitative and qualitative development following the July 2006 war... The Zionists will think not one thousand times but tens of thousands of times before they attack Lebanon."

 

Meanwhile, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc on Sunday said that Israel will be targeted by thousands of rockets if it attacks Iran.

 

There has been speculation that either the United States or Israel could attack Iran's nuclear facilities, although both have said force should be a last recourse in curbing Tehran's nuclear program, which they suspect aims to build atomic weapons.

 

Iran, which says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity, is the main backer of Hezbollah.

 

"The first shot fired from the Zionist entity toward Iran will be met by a response of 11,000 rockets in the direction of the Zionist entity. This is what military leaders in the Islamic republic have confirmed," said the Hezbollah official Mohammed Raad. His remarks were reported by Lebanon's National News Agency.

 

Hezbollah has not said what it would do in the event of a conflict between Iran and Israel. Analysts count Hezbollah, which shares Iran's Shi'ite Islamist ideology, as a major asset for the Islamic republic in the event of conflict.

 

Tehran has said it will respond severely to any attack. Israel staged an air force exercise in June that triggered speculation about a possible assault on its nuclear sites.

 

Both Hezbollah and Israel have said the group has expanded its missile capability since the 2006 conflict