UN Follies Dazzle Versailles

While the tumbrels gather outside


The commander of the United Nations “peacekeeping” force in Lebanon recently predicted a “summer of peace” in South Lebanon.

“I think that for the people of the south, this summer will be a summer of peace. And we will be taking care of the problem of terrorist attacks,” Graziano told An-Nahar.

“I am sure we are strong enough and that we are in control of the Blue Line,” the UN-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon, he said. “At the moment, I don’t see any intention” between the two sides for renewed fighting.

But the leader of the Hizballah terror gang seems to disagree. Hezbollah: Rockets can reach all Israel.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Monday his group possesses an arsenal of rockets that can reach all of Israel, including Tel Aviv.

“We could absolutely reach any corner and any point in occupied Palestine,” Nasrallah said in excerpts of an interview with Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The interview is to be shown in full later Monday.

Nasrallah said last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah did not succeed in diminishing his group’s military capabilities. Repeating earlier claims, the Hezbollah leader said his group could already have fired at Tel Aviv last summer during the conflict, but had avoided doing so.

“In July and August 2006, there wasn’t a place in occupied Palestine that the rockets of the resistance could not reach, be it Tel Aviv or other cities,” he said, describing Israel and the Hezbollah guerrillas in terms usually used by the group. “We could absolutely do that now,” he added.

Nasrallah has previously said his group increased its stock of missiles since the war ended, despite attempts to keep arms from being smuggled into southern Lebanon. In a speech in October, he said the guerrillas had 33,000 rockets — up from the 22,000 he said they had on Sept. 22.

“We in the resistance have weapons, and we openly declare that we have weapons, that we are completing our preparedness for a greater and more dangerous stage,” Nasrallah said at the time. "