- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced Tuesday evening
that the organization had been put on the highest alert in anticipation
of an Israeli attack when the Wazzani water project in southern Lebanon
is inaugurated Wednesday.
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- Speaking Tuesday night, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah
would respond to any Israeli aggression "within minutes." Whoever
decides to attack the pumping project will "open up the northern front
and we are prepared for that," he said. He said his gunmen had already
defined their targets inside Israel. "All we need is one telephone
call" to respond to any Israeli attack, he said.
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- Observers say these are the toughest remarks the Hezbollah
leader has uttered on the subject of the Wazzani. Lebanese journalist Ibrahim
al-Amin, who is close to Nasrallah, said Tuesday in an interview with Hezbollah's
TV station that the "inventory" of Israeli targets that the organization
has drawn up is even more varied than the list of Lebanese targets that
Israel has. Earlier, Nasrallah's deputy, Naim Qassem, had said that Israel
is not able to act on its threats against Lebanon since "its hands
are tied."
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- Thousands of villagers are due to participate in the
project's opening ceremony Wednesday alongside such public figures as Nabih
Beri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament and head of the Amal movement,
who was one of the project's initiators.
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- Lebanon plans at this stage to pump between 9-11 million
cubic meters of water to about 25 villages in the south. Lebanon claims
it is entitled to pump 55 million cubic meters according to international
law. A pre-1967 deal with Israel spoke of up to 10 million cubic meters
per year.
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- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said at a Beirut
press conference Tuesday that his country is backing the Lebanese position.
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- http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=2200
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