The Israeli Prime Minister did not rule out an assassination attempt on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by the Israeli military.
BERLIN: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not rule out an assassination attempt on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by the Israeli military, in an interview with a German newspaper.
Olmert told the weekly Welt am Sonntag that the normal rules of war did not apply to Nasrallah, who was not a head of state but "the chief of a terrorist organisation".
Nasrallah could not expect to be treated like a legitimate leader, Olmert said, while adding that he was not waging a "personal war against anyone in particular."
Israel has killed dozens of leading Palestinian militants in targeted strikes which have also left civilians dead and aroused international criticism. But Welt am Sonntag said that some 80 percent of Israelis were in favour of the death of the fiery Shiite cleric.
Olmert again hit back at critics of Israel's massive response to last month's capture of two of its soldiers by the Lebanese guerrilla group which has killed hundred of civilians and devastated a large part of Lebanon.
"Where do they get the right to lecture Israel?" he demanded, recalling the NATO air strikes on Kosovo in 1999.
"European countries killed 10,000 civilians," he charged, "and none of those countries had been the target of any missiles."
Olmert also repeated a statement made to Germany's Der Spiegel weekly that Israel would be happy to see German troops in a proposed international force to take over in southern Lebanon.
But German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier warned against a hasty decision for or against sending German troops to the region. Most German politicians are against such participation for historical reasons linked to Nazi Germany's elimination of the Jews and the possibility of German troops finding themselves in conflict with Israeli forces.
The government's official position is to wait until the question arises with an agreement on an international force.
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