Olmert ducks question on targeting Nasrallah

JERUSALEM, Sep 22: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ducked a question on whether Israel would try to kill Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah if the Hizbollah chief attends a ''victory rally'' in the guerrilla group's Beirut stronghold.

Asked yesterday on Israel's Channel 10 television if Nasrallah would be a target if he appeared at the event today, Olmert replied: ''And you think, that if he was, I would tell you and tell him?'' Channel 10 was due to air Olmert's comments as part of an interview with the prime minister later yesterday.

Nasrallah, apparently fearing Israeli attack, has not made a public appearance since a July 12 news conference to announce the capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid that touched off a war with Israel.

It was not clear if Nasrallah would attend the rally in a southern suburb of Beirut battered by Israel in 34 days of fighting.

Hizbollah has declared victory in the war that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Israeli warplanes pounded Hizbollah's strongholds during the war and bombarded bridges and roads across the country, forcing almost a million people to flee their homes. Hizbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.

Nasrallah said the rally would be held in honour of Lebanese who were killed in the war and Lebanese detainees who remain in Israeli jails. Hizbollah wants to exchange the two Israeli soldiers for the detainees.

Reuters