Hizbollah threatens Israel at slain commander funeral

Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel with "open war" yesterday and accused the Jewish state of killing a top commander who was among the United States' most wanted men.

"Zionists, if you want this type of open war then let the whole world hear: Let it be an open war," Mr Nasrallah told mourners at the funeral of Imad Moughniyah, a legend to Hizbollah but one of the men most wanted by Israel and the United States for planning attacks that killed hundreds.

Mr Moughniyah, hunted by Israel and the United States for two decades, was killed by a bomb in Damascus on Tuesday.

Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah and its main backer Iran accused Israel of assassinating him. Israel rejected the charge, though its Mossad spy service had long sought to kill him.

Even before Nasrallah spoke, the Jewish state put its embassies and other interests abroad on high alert and boosted troop deployments on the Lebanese border for fear of reprisal.

"We have the right, like all human beings, of self-defence and, God willing, we will do whatever is required to defend our brothers, leaders, people and our country," Mr Nasrallah said, addressing the mass funeral via video link.

He said the group's initial investigation into the killing showed that Israel was behind it. Mr Nasrallah gave no details but said it was an attack outside the "natural battleground" - both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.

The US voiced strong concern over his remarks. "Quite clearly, Hizbollah has a long record of carrying out violent acts, acts of terrorism around the globe," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Mr Nasrallah said that while the assassination was a painful blow, it would not weaken Hizbollah or its military structure. A visibly emotional Mr Nasrallah said Mr Moughniyah had played a major role in Hizbollah's 34-day war against Israel in 2006.

Naim Kassem, Mr Nasrallah's deputy, lead prayers over Mr Moughniyah's coffin, flanked by other members of Hizbollah's leadership, at a mosque in Beirut's southern suburb.

Pallbearers in camouflage fatigues carried the casket, draped in Hizbollah's yellow flag, into the street for a funeral procession attended by tens of thousands of men and women and led by a military band.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki attended the funeral and read a condolence note from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Reflecting deep divisions in Lebanon, Mr Moughniyah's funeral took place shortly after a rally by the anti-Syrian ruling coalition to mark the third anniversary of the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

A large crowd waving red, white and green Lebanese flags, gathered in pouring rain at Martyrs' Square in the centre of Beirut for speeches by anti-Syrian leaders, including Mr Hariri's son and political heir, Saad.

Mr Hariri said his hand was extended to the Syria-backed opposition to end 15 months of conflict that has deepened communal divisions and left the country without a President since November.

Mr Nasrallah responded: "When we see that the extended hand is sincere, it will only be met by an extended hand."

Mr Hariri's assassination on February 14, 2005, plunged Lebanon into its worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war and led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country. Anti-Syrian politicians blame Damascus for his death. Syria denies any role.

Mr Moughniyah was the most senior member of Hizbollah to be killed since its previous secretary-general, Abbas Mussawi, died in a 1992 Israeli helicopter ambush in southern Lebanon.

Mr Moughniyah was implicated in the 1983 bombings of the US embassy and US Marine and French peacekeeping barracks in Beirut, which killed over 350 people, as well as the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s.

Israel accuses Mr Moughniyah of planning the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and of involvement in a 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in the Argentine capital that killed 28.

The US indicted him for his role in planning and participating in the 1985 hijacking of a US TWA airliner and the killing of an American passenger. Washington welcomed Mr Moughniyah's death.

Mr Moughniyah is thought to have been commander of Islamic Jihad, a shadowy pro-Iranian group which emerged in Lebanon in the early 1980s and was believed to be linked to Hizbollah.

The group claimed many kidnappings and bombings but disappeared after the release of the last Western hostages in Lebanon shortly after the end of the civil war in 1990.