Nasrallah: Hezbollah ready for "open war"

"I remind that you killed Mughniya outside
the battle field, and if you Zionists have
already chosen an open war, I repeat now,
let it be an open war."



Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah
promised to wage an open war against Israel, saying
that Israel chose war when it allegedly assassinated
Hezbollah's military leader, Imad Mughniya.

Mughniya was killed in a car bombing in the
Syrian capital, Damascus on Wednesday.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack.

Nasrallah was delivering a eulogy before the burial of
Mughniya in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the
Lebanese capital. He said that Israel committed a
"great folly" when they chose to assassinate Mughniya.
He pointed out that the world historians have to start
chronicling this date as the beginning of the collapse
of the state of Israel.

Nasrallah said that Israel lost the war against
Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 considering
that the war is still ongoing as no ceasefire has
been announced.

With regards to Hezbollah's reaction to the
assassination of Mughniya, Nasrallah quoted his own
word during the war in 2006 when he addressed the
Israelis saying, "If you Zionists choose to fight an
open war, you will have an open war." He was hinting to
the fact that Hezbollah during the last war started
launching missiles at Israeli cities in the north after
the Israeli army shelled civilian targets in Lebanon.

This quote may imply that Hezbollah will undertake
military action against Israeli targets anywhere as he said,
"I remind that you killed Mughniya outside the battle
field, and if you Zionists have already chosen an open
war, I repeat now, let it be an open war."

Nasrallah reiterated that assassination of resistance
leaders such as Mughniya does not weaken resistance.
He revealed that as soon as the 2006 war ended,
Hezbollah fighters led by Mughniya and others began
to prepare for another possible war. He said, "This time,
there will not be one Imad Mughniya awaiting you, or
thousands of fighters, because Mughniya has almost
completed his mission and prepared dozens of
well-trained fighters who will fight you, willing to
die as martyrs."