Sunday, November 8, 2009

Hezbollah gears up for new war


Fighters rearm and reinforce positions in valleys amid fears that Israel is about to launch attack on Islamic group

Mitchell Prothero and Peter Beaumont
The Observer, Sunday 8 November 2009

"Hezbollah is rapidly rearming in preparation for a new conflict with Israel, fearing that Benjamin Netanyahu's government will attack Lebanon again prior to any assault on Iran's nuclear facilities.....

Having lost many of its bunkers in the south, Hezbollah is preparing a new strategy to defend villages there....senior commanders have done little to disguise the scale of rearmament. "Sure, we are rearming, we have even said that we have far more rockets and missiles than we did in 2006," said a Hezbollah commander, speaking on condition of anonymity.....

"We had to blow up or leave some of our bunkers and fighting positions, but we still have plenty of capabilities in the south. We expect the Israelis to come soon, if not this winter, then they will wait until spring, when the ground isn't too soft for their tanks."....

Israel and the United States have long assumed that any military action against Iran's nuclear programme would draw a muscular response from its close allies in Hezbollah. According to Israeli military and intelligence analysts, any move against Iran would require a move first against Hezbollah's capability to disrupt life in northern Israel with its rockets.... "

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