Halutz confirms Sayyed Nasrallah assassination plot

"In the Second Lebanon War there was an attempt to hit Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, but it wasn't successful," said the defense force's chief of staff during the war, Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz on Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported.

Halutz is largely associated with "Israel's" 'targeted killings' (assassination) namely the 2002 assassination of Salah Shahade, a leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, his family and a dozen civilians.

He, however, gave no details about the plot which was foiled in July 2006 when the "Israeli" forces launched indiscriminate land and air strikes on Lebanese soil killing more than 1,000 mostly civilian Lebanese.

The attacks, which had been launched in response to alleged sporadic Hizbullah attacks on northern "Israel", were repelled by Hizbullah's fighters who had also liberated southern Lebanon in 2000 from 22 years of "Israeli" occupation.

"Israeli" soldiers had reportedly been given instructions by the commander to "destroy 10 multi-storey buildings" in the capital Beirut in response to every alleged Hizbullah attack.

The 2006 military defeat was followed by the dismissal of several senior "Israeli" military officials, including Halutz.

"Israeli" intelligence and military have been repeatedly implicated in murder plots against the Hizbullah chief, the most recent of which was reportedly being carried out by suspected "Israeli"-commissioned spies.

Hizbullah, meanwhile, has stepped up precautions against the recent "Israeli" activities, namely the current military exercises codenamed 'Turning Point 3'. Tel Aviv has warned that the drill could develop into a full-scale regional war against the Lebanese group, Hamas, Syria and Iran.

Last Monday, the Hizbullah chief called on the international community to "punish "Israel"" before the materialization of, what he warned was, an ongoing Tel Aviv conspiracy against Beirut.