By: Roee Nahmias – Yedioth Internet

In response to Ashkenazi’s warning of Israeli retaliation in face of attack, Hezbollah says, ‘Enemy knows any attack will bring about its total defeat that will result in end of its entity’

Roee Nahmias
Published: 11.11.09, 16:31 / Israel News

A day after the chief of staff warned against an increasing threat from the north, Hezbollah bragged, “All cities, military bases, factories, and settlements in Israel are within the organization’s firing range.”

Hezbollah’s political bureau chief Mahmoud Qomati was responding to the statements made by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday. Ashkenazi said that Hezbollah is armed with tens of thousands of missiles that can even reach Dimona. “Some of them reach a range of 300 km (about 185 miles),” he said.

According to the chief of staff, the missiles are ready for use. “There is a paradox. On the one hand, there is quiet, but when you raise your head over the fence, you see strengthening and arming. If Hezbollah carries out an attack to avenge the death of Mughniyeh, this will obligate Israel to respond. This can lead to deterioration.”

Qomati said Wednesday that if Israel attacks the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s Dahiya neighborhood, the organization will respond with an all-out shelling of Tel Aviv. Qomati dismissed Ashkenazi’s statements: “Ashkenazi’s threats are empty statements made in a bid to restore the initiative to his hands after the enemy’s defeat in Lebanon and Gaza.”

Qomati continued, “The enemy knows that any offensive initiated under the current conditions will ensure his total defeat, will change the balance of power in our favor, and will bring about the end of its entity.