Hezbollah Chief Threatens Israel

2008-02-14

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The chief of Hezbollah vowed Thursday to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world after accusing the Jewish state of killing the militant Imad Mughniyeh in Syria

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The chief of Hezbollah vowed Thursday to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world after accusing the Jewish state of killing the militant Imad Mughniyeh in Syria.

Israel ordered its military, embassies and Jewish institutions overseas to go on alert Thursday, fearing revenge attacks for a car bomb that killed Mughniyeh -- accused of masterminding dramatic attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s.

Hezbollah and its Iranian backers blamed Israel but Israel denied involvement.

In a videotaped eulogy broadcast on a giant screen to thousands attending the south Beirut funeral for Mughniyeh, Nasrallah said Israel had taken the fight outside the ''natural battlefield'' of Israel and Lebanon.

''You have crossed the borders,'' he said. ''With this murder, its timing, location and method -- Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open.''