'Hizbullah getting ready for new war'

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Fearing Israel will launch an assault on Hizbullah before a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Lebanese guerrilla group is getting ready for a new war, the Observer reported on Sunday.
According to the British newspaper, Hizbullah has been "busy reinforcing fixed defense positions" north of the Litani River, and after losing many of its bunkers in the south during the Second Lebanon War, is preparing "a new strategy" to defend villages there.

"Sure, we are rearming, we have even said that we have far more rockets and missiles than we did in 2006," a Hizbullah commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "We had to blow up or leave some of our bunkers and fighting positions, but we still have plenty of capabilities in the south. We expect the Israelis to come soon, if not this winter, then they will wait until spring, when the ground isn't too soft for their tanks."

The report comes less than a week after the Israel Navy seized a cargo ship loaded with hundreds of tons of weaponry sent to Hizbullah from Iran.
Hizbullah says it's getting ready for new war with Israel | Middle East Conflict

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Israel Official Says Hamas Rockets Can Reach Tel Aviv

By Gwen Ackerman and Calev Ben-David

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Islamic Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip can now launch rockets capable of reaching the Israeli metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said at a Jerusalem briefing.

“We know they have tried to, and have obtained missiles that reach 60 kilometers (37 miles),” Ayalon said today. “Tel Aviv and its vicinity are now under the range of Hamas.”

During Israel’s military operation against Hamas in Gaza, which ended in January, the farthest rocket strike was some 40 kilometers into Israel, endangering southern cities such as Ashdod and Beersheba.

Since the three-week operation, Hamas has been able to replenish its stock of military equipment and explosives as well as upgrade its rocket capability, Ayalon said. Hamas is receiving support from Iran, which is using the Islamic movement to increase its influence in the region, he said.

Hamas recently successfully tested a rocket with a 60- kilometer range, Major General Amos Yadlin, chief of military intelligence, told a parliamentary committee in Jerusalem today, according to the YNet news Web site.

When reached for comment, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, said: “We are not interested in responding to the Zionist intelligence reports. They can say whatever they want.”

In 2008, some 3,300 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel, according to the Israeli army. During the 22-day Gaza operation the number was 800, and since it concluded on Jan. 18 there have been 250 more, the army said.

The Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 1,450 Palestinians were killed during the military operation, while Israel puts the number at 1,166. The army said 13 Israelis died in the violence, and a total of 24 have been killed in rocket and mortar attacks since they started in 2001.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at [email protected].
Israel Official Says Hamas Rockets Can Reach Tel Aviv (Update2) - Bloomberg.com

[pak-marine]

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job is done ..... Israel wanted a bufferzone btw it and hizbolah they are now far off not much can hapen, in the event if israel attacks iran hizbolah can fire some rockets but thats it really