http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/28/whizb28.xml I didn't think abduction would lead to war, says Hizbollah chief By Patrick Bishop in Beirut (Filed: 28/08/2006) Daily Telegraph
Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, said yesterday that if he had known the capture of two Israeli soldiers would plunge Lebanon into a catastrophic war he would have never ordered their seizure. "We did not think, even one per cent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of such magnitude," he said in an interview on Lebanese TV. Hassan Nasrallah Hassan Nasrallah: regrets "You ask me if I had known on 11 July (the day before the cross border raid) that the operation would lead to such a war would I do it? I say no, absolutely not." Nasrallah also revealed that the original cause of the war looked likely to be settled by negotiation and contacts which were under way to exchange the captured soldiers for prisoners held by Israel. The frank admission seems designed to quell in advance disquiet at the price Lebanon has had to pay for Hizbollah's actions. More than 1,300 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the month-long war, a fifth of the population were forced to flee their homes and the country's infrastructure was devastated. So far the most serious criticism has come from a senior Shia cleric who claimed Hizbollah had acted without the consent of their co-religionists by sparking the war. The Mufti of Tyre, Sheikh Ali al-Amin, challenged Hizbollah's current status as heroes, said: "Neither Lebanon nor the Lebanese people have any connection to this war. The war was forced upon the country and the people." His remarks have jarred with the prevailing mood of Hizbollah triumphalism. A party official dismissed the mufti as "a man no one took notice of before he said this. You just have to look at the people to see what they think of us". To outsiders, Sheikh al-Amin's views seem sensible enough. They amount to a plea for the establishment of a strong state whose writ runs throughout the country. "The Lebanese experience has proved the failure of communities and parties defending and protecting themselves alone," he said. "There is no substitute for one state to which everyone belongs." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
