Barak to Hezbollah: I Don't Recommend You to Test Us!

03/02/2009 | AL Manar It's true that the Israelis are still unable of overcoming their latest defeat in the Gaza Strip just as they are unable to forget their humiliating defeat in Lebanon in July 2006, but "threatening" seems to remain their "easiest" tool… Furthermore, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was one of the "engineers" of both defeats, seems to be "professional" in the threatening field. In this context, Barak renewed on Tuesday his threats to Hezbollah and Lebanon in general, at the time his army and himself are living the "obsession" of Hezbollah's revenge on the eve of the first anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah top military commander Imad Moghniyyeh (Hajj Redwan). Barak claimed any attack would prompt an unimaginably painful response from Israel. "I want to say here, on the border, that I don't recommend that Hezbollah test us because the consequences would be more painful than one can imagine," Barak said during a visit to the Israeli-Lebanese frontier area. Everyone remembers the July 2006 war, when the "invincible" army was defeated in a phenomenon that the Israelis themselves couldn't imagine. But Barak, who perceived Hezbollah would not be affected by the "threats," sought to shift the conflict to the Lebanese nation and government. "I want to tell the Lebanese government we would hold it responsible," Barak said, according to a statement by the Defense Ministry. "Hezbollah also sits around the cabinet table in Beirut, with a sufficient number of ministers to decide on how to act," Barak noticed, concluding "therefore that the Lebanese government bears overall responsibility." "Any attempt to strike at Israel will meet with a response. There is no need to elaborate," he said. Barak also expressed concern that Syria could transfer weapons to Hezbollah; something he claimed would "change the strategic balance and force Israel to act."