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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Israel warns Beirut over Hezbollah power-share |
| 2009-08-12 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Israel will hold Lebanon responsible for any future Hezbollah attack should the Iranian- and Syrian-backed group be brought into Beirut's incoming government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. "If Hezbollah joins the Lebanese government as an official entity, let it be clear that the Lebanese government, as far as we are concerned, is responsible for any attack -- any attack -- from its area on the state of Israel," Netanyahu told reporters. "It cannot hide and say: 'It's Hezbollah, we don't control them.'" Though U.S.-backed Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri bested Hezbollah in a June ballot, he is holding talks on a new coalition expected to include the Shiite group and its allies. Hezbollah has a minister in the outgoing cabinet. Israel fought Hezbollah in its southern Lebanese bastions in a 2006 war but has accused the armed group of rearming under the noses of U.N. peacekeepers and plotting attacks on Israelis to avenge the assassination of a top militia leader last year. Israeli warnings Some analysts believe that Israel, which has hinted it could attack arch-foe Iran's nuclear facilities, also wants to blunt Hezbollah's ability to serve as a retaliatory arm of Tehran. Triggered by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, the 2006 summer war exacted a heavy toll on Lebanese infrastructure. Some 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed. Israel credits the offensive with keeping the border largely quiet since, but Hezbollah said it is ready to fight again and is determined to hit back for the Feb. 12, 2008 killing of its military mastermind, Imad Moughniyeh, in a Damascus car-bombing. Israel denied involvement in that slaying, and warned that Hezbollah and Lebanon would bear the consequences for any reprisals against Israelis abroad. |
| Posted by:Fred |