By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallahthreatened Israel with "open war" on Thursday and accused theJewish state of killing a top commander who was among theUnited States' most wanted men.
"Zionists, if you want this type of open war then let thewhole world hear: let it be an open war," Nasrallah toldmourners at the funeral of Imad Moughniyah, a legend toHezbollah but one of the men most wanted by Israel and theUnited States for planning attacks that killed hundreds.
Moughniyah, hunted by Israel and the United States for twodecades, was killed by a bomb in Damascus on Tuesday.
Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah and its main backer Iran accusedIsrael of assassinating him. Israel rejected the charge, thoughits Mossad spy service had long sought to kill him.
Even before Nasrallah spoke, the Jewish state put itsembassies and other interests abroad on high alert and boostedtroop deployments on the Lebanese border for fear of reprisal.
"We have the right, like all human beings, of self-defenceand, God willing, we will do whatever is required to defend ourbrothers, leaders, people and our country," Nasrallah said,addressing the mass funeral via video link.
He said the group's initial investigation into the killingshowed that Israel was behind it. Nasrallah gave no details butsaid it was an attack outside the "natural battleground" --both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.
The United States voiced strong concern over his remarks."Quite clearly, Hezbollah has a long record of carrying outviolent acts, acts of terrorism around the globe," StateDepartment spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Nasrallah said that while the assassination was a painfulblow, it would not weaken Hezbollah or its military structure.A visibly emotional Nasrallah said Moughniyah had played amajor role in Hezbollah's 34-day war against Israel in 2006.
Pallbearers in camouflage fatigues carried Moughniyah'scoffin, draped in Hezbollah's yellow flag, into the street fora funeral procession attended by tens of thousands of men andwomen and led by a military band.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki attended thefuneral and read a condolence note from Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad.
HARIRI ANNIVERSARY
Reflecting deep divisions in Lebanon, Moughniyah's funeraltook place shortly after a rally by the anti-Syrian rulingcoalition to mark the third anniversary of the killing offormer Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
A large crowd waving red, white and green Lebanese flags,gathered in pouring rain at Martyrs' Square in central Beirutfor speeches by anti-Syrian leaders, including Hariri's son andpolitical heir, Saad.
Hariri said his hand was extended to the Syria-backedopposition to end a 15-month conflict that has deepenedcommunal rifts and left Lebanon without a president sinceNovember.
Nasrallah responded: "When we see that the extended hand issincere, it will only be met by an extended hand."
Hariri's assassination on February 14, 2005, plungedLebanon into its worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war andled to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country.Anti-Syrian politicians blame Damascus for his death. Syriadenies any role.
At the United Nations, France and the United States drafteda statement condemning Hariri's killing and "all targetedassassinations" of Lebanese officials since October 2004.
But the statement was amended after objections from Libyaand other Security Council members. The agreed statementexpressed great concern at "any targeted assassinations thathave been committed in Lebanon or in any other place".
Diplomats said some council members like Libya saw that asa veiled reference to Moughniyah's killing.
Moughniyah was the most senior member of Hezbollah to bekilled since its previous secretary-general, Abbas Mussawi,died in a 1992 Israeli helicopter ambush in southern Lebanon.
He was implicated in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassyand U.S. Marine and French peacekeeping barracks in Beirut,which killed over 350 people, as well as the kidnapping ofWesterners in Lebanon in the 1980s.
Israel accuses Moughniyah of planning the 1994 bombing of aJewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and ofinvolvement in a 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in theArgentine capital that killed 28.
The United States indicted him for his role in planning andparticipating in the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. TWA airliner andthe killing of an American passenger. Washington welcomedMoughniyah's death.
(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Laila Bassam in Beirut,Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Louis Charbonneau at the UnitedNations; Editing by Dominic Evans)
