August 21, 2008	Thursday	Sha'aban 18, 1429

JERUSALEM, Aug 20: In any new war with the militant group Hezbollah all of Lebanon will be a target for Israel, including its civilian infrastructure, an Israeli minister said on Wednesday.

“The moment the Lebanese government confers legitimacy on Hezbollah, it must understand that the entire Lebanese state will be a target in the same way that all of Israel is a target for Hezbollah,” Environment Minister Gideon Ezra told public radio.

“During the Second Lebanese War we considered the possibility of attacking Lebanon’s infrastructure but we never resorted to this option, because we thought at the time that all the Lebanese were not responsible for the Hezbollah attacks,” added Ezra, who is close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israeli bombing during the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah was largely confined to Beirut and the south but the military did hit civilian infrastructure, including Lebanon’s main international airport, roads, bridges and a power station.

The conflict followed Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.

The military failed to secure the soldiers’ return in the 34-day war and also failed to destroy Hezbollah’s ability to rain rockets on northern Israel.

The bodies of the two men were finally handed over by Hezbollah in a prisoner exchange last month.

Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev said Israel does not consider the entire state of Lebanon to be an enemy but that “the moment Hezbollah takes control of the Lebanese government we will have to address the consequences.” Last month, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora formed a national unity government that gives the Hezbollah-led opposition 11 ministries and the power of veto over cabinet decisions.

In a policy statement earlier this month, the new government affirmed “the right of Lebanon, its people, its army and its resistance to liberate its land,” a reference to some disputed border districts still held by Israel.

Olmert himself made similar remarks to Ezra’s during a visit to Israel’s home-front defence headquarters on Tuesday.

“During the war in Lebanon we had a massive capacity that we refrained from using because we were fighting a terrorist organisation and not a state, but if Lebanon becomes a Hezbollah state we will not be so restrained,” he said.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war, by importing increasingly advanced weapons from Syria.

It has meanwhile carried out routine overflights of southern Lebanon, which is also in violation of the resolution.—AFP