Hizbullah: If Israelis commit a mistake then we will face them

Source: Compiled by Daily Star, 22-2-2007
A Hizbullah spokesman denied allegations made by "Israel`s" prime minister and the army chief of staff that Hizbullah is weaker than before the 2006 summer war and said that the resistance was ready to fight `Israel` again if provoked. "If they commit a mistake then we will face them," Hizbullah spokesperson Hussein Rahal told The Daily Star, but he added that he did not believe "Israel" was ready for another war.
"The `Israeli` Army won`t be able to conduct any actual attacks for two years," he argued, "though they do have the desire for revenge."
"Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday said Hizbullah was weaker than before the war, rebutting mounting criticism of the war`s effectiveness and rejecting calls for peace talks with Syria.
Olmert criticized Syria for supporting Hizbullah, and defended "Israel`s" performance in last summer`s war, saying Hizbullah "is weaker, much weaker than they were."
Olmert, whose popularity plummeted amid "Israeli" perceptions that the war undermined national security by failing to crush Hizbullah, said that although Hizbullah was rearming, it was finding it hard to regroup in its former border strongholds.
"The arguments within `Israel` concerns internal politics. They can`t seem to agree on one thing. The politicians are trying to justify that Olmert was victorious but their intelligence reports are actually revealing that Hizbullah is even stronger than before the war", Rahal said.
The Golan exercies are part of an effort to learn the lessons of last summer`s conflict in Lebanon, Defense (War) Minister Amir Peretz said.
"These exercises are the army`s most important for five years and mainly intend to absorb lessons learned from the [2006 summer war]," Peretz told public radio. Warplanes and a regiment of paratroopers were taking part in the maneuvers, as well as infantry, mechanized units, artillery and sappers.
"Conducting these exercises in this area does not at all mean that they are connected to a possible conflict," said Peretz, referring to media reports of impending military confrontation with Syria.
The exercise came after a senior military intelligence officer renewed controversy in "Israel" about the effectiveness of last summer`s war in degrading Hizbullah`s offensive capabilities.
Brigadier General Yossi Beidatz, a senior military intelligence officer, warned the Knesset`s Defense (War) and Foreign Affairs Committee Monday that "Hizbullah has reinforced and it is stronger today than it was before the war in Lebanon."
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said he saw no cause for alarm about the Hizbullah threat.
"I suppose they`ve got more weapons but I don`t see that as any cause for hysteria," he said.
On September 22, 2006, Nasrallah said: "We have rehabilitated our military capabilities in full." The group claims to stock over 20,000 missiles and Nasrallah said this month it has never stopped smuggling in missiles and that some arms have been reaching "the front."