Hezbollah chief declares 'open war' on Israel

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel in a fiery speech in the Lebanese capital on Thursday at the funeral of a top commander killed in a car bombing he blamed on Israel.

"Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, then let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," he said in the speech broadcast on a giant screen at Imad Mughnieh's funeral in the Hezbollah bastion of southern Beirut.

Nasrallah said that by killing Mughnieh in Damascus, Israel had taken its battle with the militant group outside Lebanon's borders and as such it should expect attacks anywhere.

"You killed him outside our natural battleground," he said. "Our battleground with you is on Lebanese territory and you have overstepped the border."

"The blood of Imad Mughnieh will contribute to the disappearance of the Jewish state," he added.

Israeli reaction

Following Nasrallah's comments, Israel stepped up already stringent security measures, putting its embassies and other interests abroad on high alert and reinforcing troops on the Lebanese border.

The Israeli government rejected any involvement in the attack, although its Mossad spy service had long regarded Mughniyeh as a "terrorist mastermind".

"Our diplomatic missions are on high alert, and this could be the case for weeks or even months -- it depends on our risk assessments," a security source told Reuters. "There have also been precautions taken in terms of our (Lebanese) border garrison."

Mughniyeh was the most senior member of Hezbollah to be killed since its previous secretary-general, Abbas Mussawi, died in a 1992 Israeli helicopter ambush in southern Lebanon.

That killing was followed closely by the bombing of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community centre in Argentina, attacks that claimed dozens of lives and which Israel described as the work of Iranian agents. Tehran denied involvement.

"To my regret, we are aware of the past in this context, and we know how to prepare for further scenarios," Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told Israel Radio.

Citing a U.S. statement welcoming Mughniyeh's death, Dichter added: "The world is cleaner now that he has left us."

Iranian support

Thousands of Hezbollah supporters, including Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, were gathered for the funeral of Mughnieh, who was linked to notorious attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mottaki read a message of condolence from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a similar message to Nasrallah.

"Dear brother... I congratulate and offer my condolences on this great martyrdom to you, his family, the Hezbollah youth and all Lebanese," Khamenei said.

A spokesman for the Shiite Muslim group which heads the opposition in Lebanon said 20,000 people were inside the complex located in the southern suburbs stronghold of Hezbollah. Thousands more were gathered on the streets.

Loudspeakers blared music to the glory of the Hezbollah movement that waged a 34-day war against Israel in 2006 and broadcast speeches hailing Mughnieh's accomplishments.

Mughnieh, in his late 40s, was on America's "most wanted list" for a string of attacks against Westerners and Israelis, notably the bombing of the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the hijacking of a TWA flight in 1985.

Hariri memorial

Mughnieh's funeral took place in a packed Hezbollah-complex just as the anti-Syrian ruling majority wound up a mass rally in central Beirut to commemorate the third anniversary of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination.

The son of the former premier, Saad al-Hariri, marked the anniversary by urging the Syria-backed opposition to join a unity government to end a crisis that has paralyzed Lebanon.

The elder Hariri's killing led to Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon and to the crisis which divides the Lebanese.

"Our hand is extended and will remain extended, no matter what the difficulties," Hariri told the crowd in a message to the opposition, which is led by the powerful Damascus-backed Hezbollah.


The governing coalition accuses Syria of killing Hariri and other anti-Syrian figures assassinated since his death. Syria denies any involvement.

Speaking later at Mughniyeh's funeral, Nasrallah said: "When we see that the extended hand is sincere, it will only be met by an extended hand."

The opposition and governing coalition have been locked in a power struggle for 15 months that has paralyzed government, left the country without a president since November and led to the worst street violence since the 1975-90 civil war.

Both sides have agreed on General Michel Suleiman as the nominee for president. But his election by parliament has been postponed by a dispute over the division of seats in the new cabinet.

Addressing the opposition, Hariri said: "We call on you to elect General Michel Suleiman president of the republic now and not tomorrow so that we can sit together in a government of national unity."

U.S. reaction

The United States grimly welcomed the death of Mughnieh saying: "the world is a better place without this man in it," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"He was a cold-blooded killer, a mass murderer and terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost."

"One way or another he was brought to justice," McCormack said.

Also from Washington, President George W. Bush said he was widening U.S. sanctions against Syria, targeting officials engaged in "public corruption," amid charges Damascus is destabilizing Iraq and Lebanon.

Bush announced his decision to freeze additional Syrian assets in an executive order and a message to the U.S. Congress -- neither of which spelled out which officials would be affected.

The order targets officials deemed "to be responsible for, to have engaged in, to have facilitated, or to have secured improper advantage as a result of, public corruption by senior officials within the Government of Syria."

"I wish to emphasize, as well, my ongoing concern over the destabilizing role Syria continues to play in Lebanon, including its efforts to obstruct, through intimidation and violence, Lebanon's democratic processes," Bush said.