Wednesday 27 May 2009

Barak Threatens Lebanese: Don’t Vote to Hezbollah


Barak Threatens Lebanese: Don’t Vote to Hezbollah
Batoul Wehbe Readers Number : 458

27/05/2009 Israel's concerns about Hezbollah winning in the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections are on the rise as the Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak warned the Lebanese from the consequences of voting for the Islamic resistance and the Israeli Army chief Gabi Ashkenazi said there is a possibility that Lebanon “will fall to the radicals.”

Barak told reporters in Tel Aviv Tuesday that Israeli intelligence services expect a bolstering of Hezbollah’s power after the June 7 polls. "Today Hezbollah owns around a third of cabinet ministers. If Hezbollah wins the elections with a large margin, Lebanon will expose itself to the might of the Israeli army more than any time in the past," Barak warned ahead of his visit to Washington. “A possible Hezbollah win will give us the freedom of movement that we didn't have in July 2006,” he claimed.

Barak commented on the Der Spiegel article, which held Hezbollah responsible for the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, and said, citing some voices in Lebanon, that Hezbollah’s role in the assassination “enhances its connections with Iran.”

‘HEZBOLLAH HAS MORE ROCKETS THAN BEFORE JULY WAR’

Meanwhile, Ashkenazi told a Knesset committee meeting Tuesday that Hezbollah has more rockets than before the July 2006 War on Lebanon. "Hezbollah is secretly bolstering its power south of the Litani River, but UNIFIL's presence is making that task more difficult. Today it has more rockets and long-range ammunition than it did before the Second Lebanon War."

Ashkenazi warned Hezbollah is still looking to avenge the martyrdom of military commander Haj Imad Mughniyeh, saying "Hezbollah has been intimidated and restrained, but it is still planning a response to the death of Imad Mughniyeh."

The Israeli army chief called the upcoming parliamentary elections in Lebanon “a fascinating electoral campaign between a radical axis and moderates. This confrontation will determine which direction Lebanon will face, and it is possible it will fall to the radicals.” His talks came two weeks before the elections in Lebanon in which according to the Israel “Hezbollah is expected to gain more seats in the government.”

Referring to Iran and what Israel calls the “Iranian Nuclear Threat”, Ashkenazi said that there is a sort of dialogue between Iran and the United States, but added that imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic is essential.

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