The U.S. administration has expressed concern to the Lebanese leadership about the possibility of a Hizbullah assault against Israel within the next couple of days, and requested that efforts be deployed to prevent such a development, official sources disclosed Friday.
According to the Lebanese Daily Star, the sources said an American message was delivered to the Foreign Ministry on Friday regarding the Bush administration’s claims that the Lebanese Resistance Hizbullah was planning a new military operation to mark the anniversary of the assassination of then-Hizbullah secretary-general Abbas Mussawi.
Mussawi was killed on Feb. 17, 1992, when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into his car in South Lebanon. According to the sources, US fears were based on Israeli intelligence.
Security sources said that Israel had reinforced security measures along the Lebanese-Israeli border over the past couple of days, having adopted a series of “precautionary procedures.”
On Friday, Hizbullah declared a "week of resistance" including ceremonies and services in commemoration of Mussawi. The first such ceremony was held Friday, in the village of Jibsheet, where Mussawi was assassinated.
Sheikh Nabil Kauk, who heads Hizbullah operations in southern Lebanon, said at the ceremony that the organization would continue to attack Israel in the disputed Sheba Farms region. According to him, the resistance was a "national religious duty, if America wants it or not."
On Thursday, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Israel has agreed to include Palestinians in a prisoner exchange deal with his group. "They agreed in principle. The differences now hinge on numbers - the disparity is huge between what we are asking and what they propose," Nasrallah told the Qatari al-Jazeera satellite television.
Hizbullah has been campaigning for Israel to free about 15 Lebanese prisoners of war. It began demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners as well after it captured three Israeli soldiers on the foothills of the Golan Heights in October 2000. (Albawaba.com)
