"Israel" goes on high alert, warns citizens of possible retaliation for Moghnieh hit

Source: Agencies, 15-2-2008
"Israel" went on alert Thursday as Hizbullah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, accused the Jewish state of responsibility for the assassination of one of the group's top commanders, declared the attack act of "open war," and said the resistance was ready to respond in kind.
The government's anti-terrorist office also urged "Israelis" abroad to take extra precautions over their movements.
The military's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gaby Ashkenazi, "ordered land, air and naval forces on alert to ensure defense of the northern border and of other interests in the country" following the death on Tuesday in a Damascus bombing of Imad Moghnieh, an army statement said.
"The army is closely following the evolution of the situation and will take the appropriate measures," it added.
Shortly afterward, in a tough speech broadcast from Moghnieh's funeral in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Nasrallah condemned the slaying.
"If the Zionists want war, then they shall have it," he said. "If you want an open war, then let it be an open war."
Hizbullah has accused "Israel" of orchestrating the assassination, a charge rejected by the office of Premier Ehud Olmert.
When asked by AFP for a response to Nasrallah's declarations, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment.
Early on Thursday, an "Israeli" official told Army Radio that "Hizbullah will try to find our weak point and attack us, but without triggering a war with "Israel", to prove that Moghnieh has been avenged."
He said Hizbullah was unlikely to unleash rockets on northern "Israel", as it did during the 2006 summer war with "Israel", for fear of an "extreme" reaction by "Israel".
But another security official said that communities in northern "Israel" were bracing for possible rocket attacks, with police and rescue services on high alert.
The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the army was also on alert in the Occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, "Israel" tightened security at its embassies, consulates and foreign offices of the Jewish Agency, a front for illegal settlements, "for fear of an attack by Hizbullah or its Iranian allies," an official said.
"Israel" Radio reported that security had been raised on airplanes and ships and at sensitive installations. Stepped-up security measures were also recommended for the "Israeli" airline El Al, for shipping and for synagogues and Jewish institutions around the world.
The anti-terrorist agency, which is part of Olmert's office, advised people abroad to be extra alert and to "avoid as much as possible frequenting places widely known to be popular with "Israelis"."
It also warned of the "danger that "Israeli"s abroad might be abducted, particularly businesspeople having contacts with Arabs and Muslims," and advised people against meetings in isolated places.
Moghnieh was a top Hizbullah commander linked to several attacks against "Israeli" targets in the 1980s and 1990s.
"Israel" has denied any involvement in Moghnieh's death but senior officials have openly welcomed it.
Environment Minister Gideon Ezra, a former director of "Israel's" Shin Bethdomestic security agency, said: "I hope that every terrorist knows that he will eventually be caught, and I am glad that this has happened to Moghnieh. And I hope that whoever did this receives the congratulations he is due."
"There is no doubt Hizbullah and its Iranian masters, who had excellent relations with Moghnieh, have long memories and will demand revenge," military analyst Yossi Melman wrote in the Haaretz newspaper. "It will not necessarily come immediately in a reflex action."
"Israel" fought a month-long war with Lebanon in the summer of 2006, and residents of northern "Israel" were afraid a new war was on its way.
"Everything can get all messy after one incident like this," said Shuli Oozan, a 47-year-old convenience store employee in the town of Shlomi near the Lebanese border.
The town was a frequent target of Hizbullah rocket attacks during the summer 2006 war.
Analysts, however, were doubtful Hizbullah would try to exact revenge for Moghnieh's killing with a new round of cross-border hostilities. The group has historically avoided hitting civilian targets in "Israel", except in retaliation for "Israeli" attacks on Lebanese civilians.
Hizbullah managed to bombard northern "Israel" with nearly 4,000 Katyusha rockets during the 34-day summer war. "Israel" claims it has destroyed some of Hizbullah's arsenal of rockets and contends it killed hundreds of Hizbullah fighters.
"Israel" launched the summer war on Lebanon after Hizbullah killed three "Israeli" soldiers and captured two others in a border raid.
"Hizbullah doesn't want to heat up the border," said Ephraim Kam, an "Israeli" analyst. "It's afraid "Israel" would strike it again hard, and "Israel" is better prepared to fight now, having learned the lessons of the war."
The likelier avenue "would be a spectacular terror attack, not necessarily against "Israel" itself," but something like the embassy attack in Argentina, Kam said.
"It won't necessarily take place tomorrow morning," he added. "It takes time to carry out a spectacular attack."
Yaakov Perry, a former chief of Shin Beth, said Hizbullah might act against "Israel" through allied Palestinian groups.
"Hizbullah doesn't usually act alone, but acts with others, the best-known being Hamas and Islamic Jihad," he said, articulating a new theory. "Those who live among us, alongside us, could be its long arm and thus we have to be very aware and hope that their efforts, should there be any, will fail."