BEIRUT (Agencies)
Hezbollah said on Monday talks for a prisoner swap with Israel were continuing despite the killing of its top military commander in an assassination the Lebanese group blamed on the Jewish state.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reiterated his pledge to take revenge for the Feb. 12 assassination of Imad Mughniyah. "We shall pick the time, the place, the punishment and the means and method," Nasrallah said.
Mughniyah commanded Hezbollah's guerrilla forces during the 34-day war with Israel in 2006. The war was triggered when Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, raided Israel and captured two soldiers, saying it wanted to use them to negotiate a prisoner swap.
Mughniyah was killed by a car bomb in Damascus.
"Among his hopes was the liberation of the prisoners and we will continue this work despite the fact that the Israelis killed (Mughniyah)," Nasrallah said in a speech to commemorate the 40th day since his death.
"We did not halt the negotiations for the exchange of prisoners. Meetings happened recently and we will not halt the negotiations," he said.
Nasrallah's own movements are kept top secret. He delivered his address to thousands of supporters via a video screen.
Hezbollah still holds the two soldiers it seized in 2006. A U.N. appointed negotiator, believed to be a German intelligence officer, is working on a prisoner swap. Hezbollah has given no word on whether the two are alive and, if so, their condition.
Israel and Hezbollah exchanged the remains of an Israeli civilian in October for a captive Hezbollah fighter and the bodies of two other guerrillas in a U.N.-brokered deal.
Nasrallah has pledged vengeance for the assassination of Mughniyah, who was wanted by both Israel and the United States for his alleged role in a string of kidnappings, hijackings and attacks against Western and Israeli targets.
Hundreds were killed in the 1980s and early 1990s in attacks blamed on Mughniyah, whose killing has raised tensions on both sides of the border.
"The Israelis are concerned, so let them remain concerned. They should be concerned," said Nasrallah, whose group enjoys the support of most Lebanese Shiite Muslims. "The one who killed our martyr leader must be punished." |
