The Shiite armed group Hezbollah will strike all Israeli ships in the Mediterranean Sea if a new armed conflict between Israel and Lebanon breaks out.
According to anonymous sources in the French parliament, plans of possible military operation in Lebanon in spring 2010 were discussed in France late last year, at a meeting of French, U.S. and Israeli military experts.
"In any future war, if Israel blockades our coast and ports, all the military, civil and commercial ships heading to Palestinian ports in the Mediterranean will come under Hezbollah rocket fire," the organization's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said at a meeting to mark 10 years since the end of Israel's 22-year-long occupation of southern Lebanon.
During the 34-day war with Lebanon in 2006, Israel had imposed a sea blockade to prevent further arms supplies to Hezbollah. Some 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, perished during the conflict and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.
Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets into Israel during the 34-day war.
"We are capable of targeting, striking and destroying your ships as they head to any port on the Palestinian coast from north to south... We are determined to open this new front if our coast is under siege," he added.
The comments coincide with a five-day "Turning Point 4" nationwide home front exercise in Israel, launched on Sunday to train possible missile strikes on the Jewish territory, including from Lebanon.
"Israel just wants internal comfort... carry out drills as much as you want, but we will see how the drills will help you when the rockets start hitting," he said.
DAMASCUS, May 26 (RIA Novosti)
