Hizbullah spiritual leader Hassan Nassrallah delivered a speech to his
followers Wednesday night to commemorate the Shi'ite Muslim Ashoura
festival. During his speech, Nasrallah dwelled at length over recent
Hizbullah triumphs over Israeli forces and Israel's political position
in the Middle East.
Nasrallah celebrated the reportedly successful Lebanese Army dismantlement of two alleged Israeli
long-range spy cameras
planted on two mountains north and south of the capital Beirut,
thanking the soldiers "for working so hard in the snow" while
undertaking the operation. All reports over the operation stated that a
the Lebanese Armed Forces located the devices after receiving
information from Hizbullah.
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The
Hizbullah leader also sought to cast Israel, and not Iran or its
allies, as the main destabilizing force in the Middle East. Israel seeks
to "create strife" in the Middle East to shore up its precarious
"strategic position," Nasrallah was quoted as saying on the website of
Lebanese daily
An-Nahar.
Nasrallah also took credit for the end of the idea of a "Greater Israel"
among the Israeli public and reiterated his previous statement that
Hizbullah would not hand over any members who might be mentioned in the
UN Hariri tribunal's upcoming indictments.
Elsewhere in Lebanon, a loud explosion was heard near the city of Sidon
in the South on Wednesday evening, Lebanese media reported.
Lebanese media also claimed that IAF aircraft were spotted in the area
were the explosion occurred, dropping flares around the area and that
Israeli naval ships were spotted operating off the nearby coast. The
reports included speculation that the alleged Israeli military
operations were somehow connected to the discovery of the two spy
cameras earlier in the day.
The IDF released a statement saying that there had been no unusual activity by the IAF in Southern Lebanon.