Hizbollah threatens Tel Aviv if central Beirut hit

BEIRUT, Aug 3 (Reuters) Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah today said his guerrillas would fire rockets at Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut.

''If you strike Beirut, the Islamic Resistance will strike Tel Aviv and it is able to do so,'' Nasrallah said in a taped televised message.

It was the group's first direct claim that it had longer-range missiles that can hit the central Israel city, 130 km (80 miles) south of Lebanon.

A senior Israeli defence source was swift to react, telling Israel's Channel One television that the Jewish state would destroy Lebanese infrastructure if Tel Aviv was attacked.

Nasrallah said Hizbollah would end its rocket attacks on northern Israel if the Israelis stopped attacking civilian areas in Lebanon.

''(If) at any time you decide to stop your campaigns on our cities, suburbs, civilians and infrastructure, we won't strike with rockets any settlement or Israeli city ...'' he said.

Nasrallah dismissed assessments by Israeli leaders that Hizbollah had been severely weakened and its capabilities diminished.

''You can't destroy Hizbollah ... because the resistance is not a classic army or a regular state ...'' he said. ''The resistance is a people who has the belief, the will and who loves martyrdom.

''The resistance will not be broken, the resistance will not be defeated.'' Hizbollah rockets killed eight people in northern Israel on Thursday and three Israeli soldiers died in combat in southern Lebanon, the highest number of Israeli dead in one day since fighting began on July 12.

Nasrallah said Israeli ground forces were not achieving much success in south Lebanon, though he admitted they had advanced on several fronts in the border area.

''The Israeli army is a giant machine that is blind, stupid and incapable,'' he said.

The black turbaned cleric, looking relaxed, took a swipe at the United States, vowing that Lebanon would never fall into Washington's hands.

''I assure (you that) whatever the results of the war, Lebanon won't be American and Lebanon won't be Israeli and Lebanon won't be one of the bases for the 'new Middle East' which George Bush wants and which Condoleezza Rice wants,'' he said.

REUTERS VJ RK0058