Regional News
Israel says Hezbollah could have seized power in Lebanon
By AFP
May 15, 2008 - 1:56:51 PM

JERUSALEM - Hezbollah proved last week that it is the strongest force in Lebanon and could have seized power if it had wanted to, Israel's military intelligence chief said in remarks published on Thursday.

"Hezbollah did not intend to take control... If it had wanted to, it could have done it," Major General Amos Yadlin said in an interview with the Haaretz newspaper.

Lebanon was rocked last week by the worst sectarian violence since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, which saw Hezbollah fighters seize mainly Muslim west Beirut, overrunning its pro-government rivals.

But Yadlin said Hezbollah did not want to follow the example of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in June by ousting the forces of moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim movement formed after Israel's large-scale invasion of Lebanon in 1982, "understands that if it took power it would have to assume responsibility and expose its numerous weak points," he said.

"Hezbollah proved that it was the strongest power in Lebanon... stronger than the Lebanese army."

He said Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, continued to pose a "significant" threat to Israel as its rockets could reach a large part of Israeli territory.

During the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006 that devastated much of Lebanon, the Shiite militant group fired 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.