Israeli embassies on high alert
2008-02-15 13:02
Beirut - Israel ordered its embassies on high alert and the FBI put the United States terror squads on guard to protect Jewish institutions after Hezbollah's leader vowed to retaliate anywhere in the world for the assassination of one of its top commanders.
"Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday to a throng of fist-waving mourners who attended the funeral of Imad Mughniyeh, the mastermind of terror spectaculars that claimed hundreds of American lives.
Thousands of black-clad mourners raised their fists in the air, chanting, "At your orders, Nasrallah" in response to Nasrallah, who appeared via video. He had been in hiding since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon.
Nasrallah's fiery speech signalled the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group was ending a yearslong policy of battling Israel only on Israeli or Lebanese territory, raising the spectre of attacks in Western or other countries.
Israel denies involvement
Hezbollah and its Iranian backers blamed Israel for Mughniyeh's death in a car bombing on Tuesday in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Israel denied involvement.
Nasrallah accused Israel of taking the fight outside the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon. He said: "You have crossed the borders."
Unlike Middle Eastern leaders who had indulged in exaggerated rhetoric, Nasrallah was known for acting on his threats.
In 2006, he vowed to take action to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, and in July that year, Hezbollah guerrillas staged a daring cross-border raid that snatched two Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips.
The incident triggered a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah that devastated southern Lebanon, with the guerrillas lobbing several thousand rockets into northern Israel. It ended with the Israeli soldiers still captive and no deal for a prisoner swap had yet been reached.
Terror squads on alert
Fearing revenge attacks after Mughniyeh's assassination, Israel ordered its military and embassies overseas on high alert on Thursday and recommended Jewish institutions worldwide do the same.
And in Washington, the FBI put its domestic terror squads on alert for any threats against synagogues or Jewish centres in the United States.
Thursday's events in Beirut raised fears that Lebanon's internal turmoil could worsen. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of Hezbollah's pro-Western political opponents filled a downtown Beirut square to mark the anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's 2005 assassination.
Fearing clashes, authorities deployed thousands of troops. The two mass gatherings ended with a few fights involving fists, sticks and knives between government supporters and opponents that left at least four injured.
Officially, the Israeli government denied involvement, but speaking privately, Israeli military officials were more vague, refusing to confirm or deny involvement.
- AP