Hezbollah denied a report by the Iranian News Agency, Fars, that it will launch an offensive on Israel in Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 if the Jewish state wages a new war. "We would not initiate war but in case they wage any war in the future ...there will be a counter attack behind the front lines...and for the first time since 1948 in Palestine itself," Fars quoted a Hizbullah Shura Council member as telling Syrian magazine al-Hakika.Hizbullah said in a statement that al-Hakika magazine "did not conduct an interview with any of the Shura Council members, and thus, remarks attributed to the so-called Shura Council member to Fars news agency are absolutely not true."
The high-ranking Hizbullah official was also quoted as revealing in his remarks to al-Hakika that the body of slain commander Imad Mughniyeh was moved to Lebanon before Syrian secret service agents had the chance to examine it.
Mughniyeh was assassinated in a Damascus car bombing Feb. 12. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah ordered Mughniyeh's body to be transferred "immediately" to Lebanon minutes after the bombing, Fares quoted the Hizbullah official as saying.
He added that Syrian President Bashar Assad asked Nasrallah to keep the identity of the assassinated official secret but the Hizbullah leader refused. The Shiite group accused Israel of killing Mughniyeh and pledged to avenge his death.