Hizbullah: Nasrallah will not visit Saudi Arabia, US official says resistance still poses threat

Source: Daily Star, 29-9-2006
BEIRUT: Hizbullah denied reports that leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will be visiting Saudi Arabia, as stated by a Saudi newspaper in an article published on Thursday. Al-Jazeera newspaper quoted Nasrallah as thanking Saudi Arabia for "all great humanitarian efforts and for standing by the Lebanese people during the war."
The paper also reported that Nasrallah said: "There is a great brotherly bond connecting the Lebanese and the Saudi people."
It also said that Nasrallah will be visiting Saudi Arabia and meeting with Saudi officials, including the King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz.
But Hizbullah denied the "false report," adding that Nasrallah had never given an interview to the paper and would not be traveling to Saudi Arabia.
In a separate development, US counterterrorism officials on Thursday said that Hizbullah`s capable, well-trained fighters continue to threaten the survival of Lebanon`s government, "Israel", and US interests around the world.
Frank Urbancic, a State Department counterterrorism official, told the House of Representatives` International Relations Committee that the group based in South Lebanon enjoys a symbiotic relationship with Iran and Syria, receiving money, arms and training.
Meanwhile, John Kavanagh, a counterterrorism official with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, called Hizbullah one of the world`s most capable (so-called) `terrorist` groups, adding that it is "a well-trained force that is proficient in military tactics and weaponry."
Kavanagh said that although Hizbullah has the ability to launch an attack on the US or US facilities, it has not done so since the 1996 attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US military personnel.