Israel's Barak warns of growing Hezbollah arsenal (Reuters)
18 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas have amassed more than 40,000 rockets since the 2006 war with Israel, putting most of the Jewish state within range, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday.
Barak said the Iran and Syria-backed group's arsenal has grown in spite of a large international force deployed in south Lebanon under a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the conflict.
"Paradoxically, (U.N.) Resolution 1701 that ended the Lebanon war became a starting point," Barak told journalists in Tel Aviv.
"Hezbollah moved from possessing 11,000 rockets capable of reaching (the northern city of) Hadera to 40,000 that can reach (the southern cities of) Yeruham, Dimona and Arad," he added.
Israel has been on heightened alert for Hezbollah attacks and abductions since the group's military mastermind Imad Moughniyah was assassinated in Syria in February.
Hezbollah vowed "open war" on Israel to avenge the death of Moughniyah in a Damascus car bombing. Israel denied involvement.
"We have already thwarted, with the cooperation of foreign authorities, at least two attacks in different corners of the world," Barak said.
He said Israeli businessmen, envoys and military officers were at risk.
(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
