But Nasrallah survived, and he is still full of threats and murder. “Nasrallah vows to strike south of Haifa; Hezbollah HQ in Beirut hit,” from Haaretz:
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed Friday to strike Israeli targets south of Haifa, after an Israel Air Force attack left the group’s headquarters in Beirut in ruins.
The group was quick to announce that Nasrallah had been unhurt in the strike.
“Hezbollah’s secretary-general, family and bodyguards are safe and sound,” a Hezbollah statement said. Nasrallah’s residence and office were destroyed in the attack….
In a speech aired live shortly after the attack, Nasrallah said the group would strike deeper inside Israel, which it charged with launching the operation in Lebanon to avenge its failure in preventing the abduction and killing of its soldiers by Hezbollah earlier in the week.
Hezbollah would also strike “beyond Haifa and what is beyond, beyond Haifa,” Nasrallah said. He made reference to a new strike on an Israeli naval boat in Lebanese waters. The warship was lightly damaged in the strike, and there were no injuries, the IDF said.
“You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war,” the Hezbollah leader said. “You have chosen an all-out war with a nation which… has the capability, the experience and the courage.”
Nasrallah said that Lebanon could either surrender or “have faith in Allah and victory,” and said he was sure that most of Lebanese would want to stand side by side with Hezbollah….
A senior General Staff official told Haaretz that the IDF is planning to bomb Hezbollah headquarters in a densely populated area of south Beirut on Friday.
The IDF said it has dropped leaflets warning civilians of the impending attack and that many of them have left the Shi’ite Dahiya quarter of south Beirut, where thousands of people live in multi-story residential buildings.
“We will atack more significant targets than we have attacked until now,” the officer said. “If we had chosen to bomb earlier, it would have ended with hundreds of civilians killed, and we took ethical considerations into account. On the other hand, we will not adopt a naive approach, and the model of terrorists hiding behind civilians will not be accepted.”
He said any civilian who chooses to remain in the area is putting his life in danger….
Hezbollah official Ghaleb Abu Zaineb reiterated Friday the militant group’s commitment to attacking Haifa if Israel attacks Beirut.
“We are committed to what we say, but we will decide the manner and timing of our response,” said Abu Zaineb, a member of the Hezbollah political bureau. “The enemy must expect an attack on Haifa at any time.”
Israel is attempting to put pressure on the Lebanese government and force Hezbollah to free two Israeli soldiers the group captured Wednesday. Israel has already bombed Lebanon’s airports and blockaded the country from the sea, bringing trade and tourism to a halt….
IDF spokeswoman Miri Regev said Friday that the IDF has hit “dozens of rocket storehouses and stockpiles” belonging to Hezbollah. She also said the Hezbollah stronghold is “the place where the Hezbollah leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah, are located on a regular basis.”
Friday’s raids took place after Katyusha rockets slammed into the northern port city of Haifa on Thursday. Earlier that day, two Israelis were killed and 120 were wounded when scores of Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah guerillas rained down across northern Israel.
“We cannot tolerate a situation where a terrorist organization is operating from a sovereign country on our northern border and threatening well over half a million Israeli civilians,” said army spokesman Capt. Jacob Dallal.