RIYADH, July 21: Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that the group’s senior leaders had survived the bombardment of what Israel called a bunker earlier in the week.

In an interview with Al Jazeera television, Sheikh Nasrallah reiterated that the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah would not be released even ‘if the whole universe comes against us.

He said the soldiers would be freed only as part of a prisoner exchange agreed through indirect negotiations.

Israeli aircraft had dropped 23 tons of explosives on a site in southern Beirut on Wednesday night, claiming that it was an underground bunker where Hezbollah leaders were holding a meeting.

Hezbollah had immediately denied that the building was a bunker, saying that none of its members was hurt.

It said the site was a mosque under construction.

Al Jazeera, which aired only excerpts of the interview, said it had been taped on Thursday.

The interviewer said the meeting took place amid tight security precautions but did not say where.

Sheikh Nasrallah also denied claims by Israel to have destroyed half of Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal, calling the claims ‘baseless. “Hezbollah has so far stood fast, absorbed the strike, retaken the initiative and made the surprises that it had promised, and there are more surprises.”

He said that a Hezbollah defeat would be ‘a defeat for the entire Islamic nation.

DEBATE: A debate about supporting or opposing Hezbollah has exposed split in the Arab world. Some leading ulema have come out in favour of the Saudi governments position that the Lebanese outfit is a terrorist group and that Muslims should not support its actions. Others contend Hezbollah deserves the Ummahs backing as it is fighting an oppressor.