JEDDAH, 30 July 2007 — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who caught the imagination of the Muslim youth with his legendary resistance against the might of the Israeli Army during the 34-day war on south Lebanon last year, said his group was armed with fresh supply of Katyusha rockets and would target Israel if Tel Aviv dared to attack his country again.
In a TV address to a massive rally of supporters in Bint Jbeil, which was broadcast live by many television channels on Saturday night, Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s heroic resistance against Israel thwarted the United States’ so-called vision for a New Middle East.
“The American project was swept aside by Hezbollah’s victory,” Nasrallah said.
“This war aimed to impose a New Middle East, broken up into confessional and ethnic mini-states, serving the interests of the United States and Israel.”
Nasrallah’s repeated references to a New Middle East was an allusion to comments by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who called during the course of the war for such a concept, which she described as a new era of democracy and peace in the region. “There is no new Middle East. It’s gone with the wind,” he said.
“This resistance is today stronger, more powerful, more solid, and more determined to confront the aggression and achieve victory,” Nasrallah said. “We will not wait for anyone to defend us. We will defend ourselves and our country. We possess and we will continue to possess rockets that can hit any area in occupied Palestine if Israel attacks Lebanon.”
Hezbollah claimed a historic victory after Israel was forced by the United Nations to end the war on Aug. 14. Israel had launched the war after Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers and killed several others during an Israeli incursion into South Lebanon.
The selection of the rally’s venue was significant in that it was in the southern border village of Bint Jbeil where Israeli forces suffered huge losses last year.
It was here that Israeli Merkava tanks, once considered invincible, were reduced to smoldering death traps by Hezbollah’s anti-tank fire.
The Hezbollah chief said his fighters’ steadfastness in frontline villages such as Bint Jbeil had led to the failure of the Israeli attack and subsequently prevented the Jewish state from achieving any of its declared objectives, namely destroying Hezbollah’s military structure and securing the release of two soldiers.
“The (Israeli) enemy has even failed to get the two prisoners back,” he said, punching his fist in the air.
Nasrallah said Israel would only be able to secure its soldiers’ release if it undertook “indirect negotiations and an exchange” of Lebanese prisoners it held.
In Jerusalem yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a new $30 billion US defense package to preserve Israel’s regional military superiority.
“In my last meeting with the president of the United States, we agreed that the aid would stand at $30 billion over the next 10 years, meaning over $3 billion a year, starting next year,” Olmert told reporters.
“This is an increase of over 25 percent in the military and defense aid of the United States to Israel,” he said, describing the package as a considerable improvement and very important element for the Jewish state’s security.
“Other than the increase in aid, we received an explicit and detailed commitment to guarantee Israel’s qualitative advantage over Arab states,” said Olmert, whose approval ratings have sunk to single digits amid continuing anger at his government’s handling of the war against Hezbollah.
