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Hezbollah Denies It Has Iranian Missiles to Reach Central Israel
Lebanese resistance guerrilla group Hezbollah rejected Israeli claims that Iran has sent missiles into Lebanon that are capable of reaching central Israel.
Leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah denied there was any shipment of the missiles, the resistance's Manara television station reported on Monday, but he said he "would be happy to possess the Iranian missiles that could hit central Israeli cities."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last Friday accused Iran of airlifting missiles for Hezbollah via Syrian air and turning Lebanon into an "international center for terrorism." He threatened to annihilate the missiles in the underground storage depots in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
Nasrallah stressed that the resistance will not put down their arms until Israel withdraws from all occupied Arab lands and releases Lebanese detainees that are still being held in Israeli prisons.
Hezbollah parliament member Mohammed Raad said Sharon's claims were "an attempt to win over international sympathy and bolster military assistance for the Zionist entity."
Meanwhile, Iran's ambassador in Beirut, Mohammed Ali Subhani, was quoted by Manara television as saying that Sharon's accusation is a "sheer lie."
"It was an attempt to create an alibi for an escalated terrorist crackdown on the Palestinian intifada and Lebanese resistance," he added.
Israel and the United States were developing a more sophisticated defense system of anti-missile missiles to cope with "Hezbollah's growing missile power and potential ballistic missile attacks by Iraq and Iran."
Israeli media said Hezbollah currently possessed Iranian missiles with a range of 120 kilometers which can reach central Israel.
The Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah had spearheaded Lebanese resistance against Israeli aggression of its southern part during the past decades. Israel pulled out in May last year after 22 years of occupation there, under pressure from Lebanese guerrillas and the international community.
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