Israel should be 'worried' says Hizballah chief

Israel 'miscalculated' by killing prominent Hizballah member Samir Kuntar last week and retaliation for his death was 'inevitable', whatever the consequences, said the leader of Lebanon's Hizballah on Sunday.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

28 December, 2015

Israelis should brace themselves for Hizballah’s response warns Hassan Nasrallah. [Getty]

Hizballah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has warned Israel on Sunday that the group will retaliate for the killing of prominent member Samir Kuntar.

Speaking in a ceremony marking one week since the assassination of Samir Kuntar in Syria, Nasrallah said the Israelis should brace themselves for a response.

"The Israelis should be justifiably worried...They should be worried along the border, inside [Israel] and outside," he said.

"The response is coming no matter what...We cannot forgive the shedding of our fighters' blood by the Zionists." Nasrallah added.

Kuntar was killed along with several others in an airstrike which violated Syrian airspace near the Syrian capital Damascus last Saturday.

Israel has not confirmed or denied that it carried out the airstrike, although it has recently admitted responsibility for a number of airstrikes in Syria.

Kantar's death is the latest in a long line of Israeli assassinations of Hizballah officials over recent years.

In February 2008, Israel killed Imad Mughniyeh in Syria. In December 2013, an Israel-linked squad gunned down senior Hizballah commander Hassan Lakkis.

In January 2015, an Israeli airstrike killed Jihad Mughniyeh, Imad's son, in addition to five Hizballah fighters and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general.