BICOM

In a rare public address yesterday, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah eulogized notorious terrorist Samir Kuntar and threatened Israel with revenge for his death.

Kuntar was buried yesterday in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold in a funeral attended by thousands, including Lebanese politicians. Crowds chanted “Death to Israel” and many wore military fatigues. Kuntar was killed in a Sunday air strike on a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus. He was imprisoned in Israel for 30 years after he murdered a family in Nahariya, during a high-profile terror attack in 1979, in which he is thought to have battered a four-year-old to death. However, Kuntar was released in 2008, as part of an exchange to return the bodies of two IDF soldiers.

Since then, he affiliated himself with Hezbollah and returned to terror activity. Kuntar is thought to have spearheaded an attempt to open a front against Israel on the Syrian Golan Heights, leveraging his links with the local Druze community and pro-Assad militia.

Nasrallah yesterday told the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar television that, “We have no doubt or question that Israel is the one which assassinated Samir Kuntar.” Israel has refused to confirm or deny the claim. Nasrallah said, “Samir is one of us and a commander of our resistance and it is our right to retaliate for his assassination in the place, time and a way we see appropriate.”

Israeli officials have estimated that Hezbollah has approximately 100,000 rockets at its disposal. Hezbollah is also committed to attacking Israelis abroad and was responsible for bombing an Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria in 2012, which killed six people. A Hezbollah operative was convicted last year in a Cypriot court of planning attacks on Israeli interests on the island.

Nasrallah also appeared to address the legislation passed by US Congress last week which will sanction those helping aid Hezbollah. He said that such actions show “that we are on the right track. It is our pride to be the enemies of America and Israel.”