BEIRUT, Lebanon,
Feb 14--Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah threatened Thursday to retaliate against Israeli targets after accusing the Zionist regime of killing Imad Mughniyeh in Syria.
Nasrallah addressed supporters of the Lebanese Islamic resistance group in a videotaped eulogy broadcast on a giant screen at the Beirut funeral for Mughniyeh, AP reported.
In remarks directed at Israel, Nasrallah said: “You have killed Hajj Imad outside the natural battlefield,“ and added, “Hezbollah has long contended it only fights Israel within Lebanon and along their common border.“
“You have crossed the borders,“ Nasrallah said.
“With this murder, its timing, location and method -- Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open.“
“They (Israel) see in his martyrdom a great accomplishment and we see in it a good sign for the coming victory. This was the case with the martyrdom of our leaders Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Sayyed Abbas Moussawi.“
Sayyed Nasrallah added that when Sheikh Harb was martyred the resistance got stronger and forced Israeli occupation forces into the security zone.
“Today they killed Hajj Imad and they think that killing him would cause the resistance to crash down,“ he said.
“With the blood of martyr Imad we must begin to write the history of the fall of Israel in the very near future. The blood of martyrs Harb and Moussawi drove them out of Lebanon and the blood of martyr Imad Mughniyeh will drive them out of existence,“ his stressed.
Nasrallah explained that his speech was not based on emotions but on what the founder of Israel, Ben Gorion, said.
“You all know that the founder of Israel, Ben Gorion, who knows better than any other Israeli the strength and weakness of this entity, said Israel will fall down after the first defeat,“ Nasrallah elaborated. Throngs of Hezbollah backers came out Thursday for Mughniyeh’s funeral.
In Israel, officials instructed embassies and Jewish institutions around the world to go on alert Thursday for fear of revenge attacks, and the army raised its awareness on its border with Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories.

Investigation Underway
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday that investigations are under way into who was behind the car bomb that assassinated the top Hezbollah commander.
At a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, Moallem said: “Syrian security forces are continuing investigations into this terrorist crime and we hope you will hear results soon.“
“We as a state will show with full proof the party involved in this crime and who stands behind them,’’ he said. Moallem described the killing of Mughniyeh as a blow to peace.
Mottaki said Thursday that only the Zionist regime of Israel benefits from insecurity in Lebanon.
“Concurrence of martyrdom of Mughniyah and the anniversary of assassination of former Lebanese Premier Hariri points to the fact that only Israel, the sole enemy (of Muslims), benefits from martyrdom of children of Lebanon and insecurity there,“ he said.


Leader Sends
Message of Condolence

TEHRAN, Feb. 15--Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei expressed condolence on the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh.
In a message to Hizbollah Secretary General, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader expressed outrage at Israeli state terrorism which targeted the popular Lebanese fighter who stood against Zionist atrocities in his home country during his lifetime.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the martyrdom of the faithful and devoted fighter is considered a great blessing, and Lebanese people will be proud of such a great man, who devoted his life for freedom of his country and nation.
Ayatollah Khamenei also sympathized with Mughniyeh’s bereaved family, his wife, father, children and friends.
“The demise of the liberation fighter and prominent fighter is very hard for his parents, wife, children and friends. But the life and death of such a man can and will make nations vigilant, and will be an example for the young generation,“ the leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the criminal and blood-thirsty Zionists should know that the sacred blood of martyrs such as Mughniyeh will further contribute to the culture of resistance and martyrdom.

Former CIA Boss:
Mossad Killed
Mughniyeh

TEHRAN, Feb. 15--Former director of CIA announced that despite the denial of any connection with the assassination of the senior Hezbollah leader, Imad Mughniyeh, by Israel, Mossad masterminded the plan.
According to ISNA, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot quoted Bill Clinton’s national security advisor for Middle East affairs, Bruce Riedel, as saying that Israel has conducted similar operations in Syria in the past.
He further noted that Mughniyeh’s murder “shows Israel has succeeded in the events following the second war against Lebanon and the destruction of Hezbollah members. Hezbollah chief Seyyed Hassan Nasrollah also knows that he also is on Israel’s hit list.“
Mughniyeh topped the most wanted list of the US and Zionist regime for the past quarter century, Riedel said, adding that the martyred Hezbullah commander is not the last on the hit list.
According to the former US security official the killing of Mughniyeh in a car bomb has all the makings of Mossad’s (Israel’s intelligence agency) tactics of killing opponents of the occupying power.

Death squads of the Zionist regime martyred Hezbollah’s senior leader, Imad Mughniyeh on Tuesday in Syria. The world media immediately reacted to Mughniyeh’s martyrdom. Political analysts began to comment on the assassination and Hezbollah’s possible response.
The subject was discussed with the man in charge of Hezbollah in Lebanon’s Beka region.
The Persian daily ’Iran’ interviewed the deputy head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Mohammad Hassan Yaghi. Excerpts:

What were the main characteristics of Martyr Mughniyeh that the world media so strongly reacted to his assassination?
Mughniyeh was one of those leaders who fought against the US and the Zionists. Most western security organizations, particularly Mossad, were hunting Mughniyeh for almost 20 years. If you remember Israel’s Winograd report issued by a commission headed by former justice, Eliyahu Winograd, it had called on the Zionist regime to try and restore its lost credibility after the 33-day war against Hezbollah in 2006. Assassination of Mughniyeh is in line with what that report had recommended the Zionist leaders. Mughniyeh had always awaited martyrdom.

Some Arab circles and the so-called March 14 group have accused Syria of involvement in his death. What is your opinion?
Haj Imad Mughniyeh had been a target of Israel’s intelligence agencies for several years. No one can accuse Syria of involvement only because the assassination took place in that country. Of course, how the assassination team got insie Damascus is under investigation. Hezbollah and Syria are jointly investigating the crime.

Nasrallah in a speech has warned that if the “Zionists treat us in this way we will respond in kind.“ Does this imply Hezbollah is now seeking revenge?
Mughniyeh’s assassination outside Lebanon is a sign of Israeli desperation. By choosing Damascus as the terror venue, Israel wanted to conduct its assassination outside Lebanon. From now on Israel will be solely responsible for whatever happens against its interests throughout the world. If they want to engage in a full-fledged war, we will do the same. I hereby announce that whenever we decide we can destroy the criminals. The Zionists and their supporters still do not know us. We will confront them whenever we want to. They have exceeded their limits and they should await its consequences.

BAGHDAD , Iraq , Feb. 15--Iran has postponed a fourth round of talks with the United States in Baghdad on improving security in Iraq .
Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad blamed “technical issues“ for the last-minute delay to discussions that were to be held on Friday, but did not elaborate, Reuters reported.
The Iran-US security talks are one of the few forums in which officials from the two bitter foes have direct contact.
Diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran have been frozen for almost three decades.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari called the Iranian postponement “unfortunate“.
“Yesterday we were informed that the Iranians want to postpone this for some time. This is the fourth time that we agreed on a date and they don’t show up,“ Zebari told Reuters .
Iraq later said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would visit Baghdad on March 2 for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and other senior officials in what would be the first visit by a president of the Islamic Republic.
US and Iranian officials met three times last year to seek common ground on stabilizing Iraq in talks arranged by the Baghdad government. The last time was in August.
Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, said Tehran still wanted to hold the talks.
“This was supposed to take place on this week’s Friday, but based on latest evaluation and because of technical issues, these negotiations have been postponed,“ he told IRNA.
US embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said it appeared Iranian officials were unwilling to meet their US counterparts.

Prince Bandar

LONDON, Feb. 15--Saudi Arabia’s rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed on Thursday.
Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced “another 7/7“ and the loss of “British lives on British streets“ if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence, Reuters reported.
Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.
He was accused in yesterday’s high court hearings of flying to London in December 2006 and uttering threats which made the prime minister, Tony Blair, force an end to the Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery allegations involving Bandar and his family.
The threats halted the fraud inquiry, but triggered an international outcry, with allegations that Britain had broken international anti-bribery treaties.
Lord Justice Moses, hearing the civil case with Mr Justice Sullivan, said the government appeared to have “rolled over“ after the threats. He said one possible view was that it was “just as if a gun had been held to the head“ of the government.
The SFO investigation began in 2004, when Robert Wardle, its director, studied evidence unearthed by the Guardian. This revealed that massive secret payments were going from BAE to Saudi Arabian princes, to promote arms deals.