BEIRUT, July 14: The chief of Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed all-out war against Israel on Friday, hinting of attacks deep inside the Jewish state shortly after he survived an air raid that destroyed his home.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a dramatic phone call to Hezbollah’s TV station, said an Israeli navy ship was burning off Beirut and would sink. Israel said the Hezbollah had hit the ship with an aircraft.

“You wanted open war. We are going to open war,” he said. “You have chosen an all-out war with a nation which ... has the capability, the experience and the courage.”

Nasrallah urged the Lebanese people not to give in and to hold firm because the situation had escalated beyond what could be called retaliation for Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday.

Speaking to the Israeli people, Nasrallah said: “You will discover quickly that your new government and new leadership are stupid and idiotic, do not know how to assess matters and do not have the experience.”

The Lebanese would not suffer alone, Nasrallah said, because Israel would feel Hezbollah’s response “not just in Haifa but beyond Haifa and beyond, beyond Haifa”.

Two rockets landed on the Israeli city of Haifa on Thursday in an attack the Jewish state blamed on Hezbollah and said was a major escalation. Hezbollah denied firing the rockets although it had earlier threatened to attack Haifa.—Reuters