An Israeli cabinet minister on Friday threatened to eliminate Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. "Nasrallah decided his own fate," Interior Minister Roni Bar-On said. "We will settle our accounts with him when the time comes."
In a significant move, Saudi Arabia accused Hizbullah -- without naming it -- of "uncalculated adventures" that could precipitate a new Middle East crisis. A Saudi official quoted by the state Saudi Press Agency said Hizbullah's brazen capture of two Israeli soldiers was not legitimate.
The kingdom "clearly announces that there has to be a differentiation between legitimate resistance (to Israel) and uncalculated adventures."
The Saudi official said Hizbullah's actions could lead to "an extremely serious situation which could subject all Arab nations and its achievements to destruction." "The kingdom sees that it is time for those elements to alone shoulder the full responsibility for this irresponsible behavior and that the burden of ending the crisis falls on them alone."
On his part, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also warned Israel against extending its offensive in Lebanon to neighboring Syria and said such a move would equate to an attack against the Islamic world, the official Iranian news agency reported Friday.
The Iranian leader called on Muslim countries to create a united front against Israel. "The Islamic world, especially countries in this region, need more unity and integrity, particularly in the context of Lebanon and Palestine," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
"The Islamic republic of Iran supports the case (for unity) with all its diplomatic capacity," he said.
