Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that Israeli attacks had not weakened its rocket capabilities and its fighters would turn south Lebanon into a "graveyard" for invading Zionist forces.
In a televised speech, Nasrallah called on the Arab residents of Haifa to leave the Israeli city to avoid being hurt by Hizbullah rocket fire.
Earlier in the speech, Nasrallah said his group backed the Lebanese army's deployment to the south but that Washington was trying to impose Israeli demands on Lebanon through a draft U.N. resolution. Nasrallah added that a seven-point plan presented by the Lebanese premier was the least the country should accept as part of a draft resolution to end the fighting.
In his first comments since the U.S.-French draft UN cease-fire resolution was unveiled on Sunday, Nasrallah gave a deeply negative assessment of the plan, calling it "unfair and unjust." "It has given Israel more than it wanted and more than it was looking for," he said.
In a major shift in the Hizbullah position, Nasrallah also said the group was solidly behind a Lebanese government plan to deploy 15,000 soldiers in south Lebanon once a cease-fire is reached and Israel pulls out its forces. "In the past we used to oppose or not agree on deployment of the army at the borders ... because we were concerned about the army. ... We agree on deployment of the army, but do note hide our fear for it," Nasrallah said. "The army could be destroyed within few days," he said.
Nasrallah also rejected a proposed international peacekeeping force for the region, saying it was not clear from whom they would be taking orders. "This [the Lebanese army deployment] is the better and more convenient alternative than deployment of international troops. We don't know whose orders they will be taking," he said.
Nasrallah also urged the Lebanese government against succumbing the what he termed U.S. pressure to drop its opposition to the plan currently under consideration at the United Nations.
"I call out against American pressure," Nasrallah said. "I all on the [ebanese]government for continued teadfastness." He said the guerrillas would not falter, adding his guerillas "will keep fighting to the last shot," he said.
