Iranian president urges Israel to move out of Mideast

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned on Sunday that Israel would be destroyed by its ongoing battle with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas, urging Israel to "bale and move out of Mideast", local media reported.

"I suggest that they (Israelis) bale and move out of Mideast before the fire they have launched in Lebanon catches them," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

"Israel has pushed the button of its own destruction by attacking Lebanon," said the president, adding "Israel and its allies must apologize for their policies, or the people in the region will respond."

Ahmadinejad also accused the United States and Britain of assisting Israel in attacking Lebanon and the Palestinians, saying "Britain and the U.S. are accomplices of the Zionist regime in its crimes."

"Haughty countries have founded a base to threaten nations in the region, the occupier regime (Israel)'s philosophy is based on threats, invasion and massacre, and today it has reached its end point," he continued.

Israel has accused Iran and Syria of supporting Hezbollah, saying Iran has secretly provided military consultants and long- range missiles to help the group fight with Israel, but Iran has denied all the accusations.

On Saturday, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said that Iran would not enter the current crisis in Lebanon militarily, but vowed to continue supporting Lebanon diplomatically and politically.

On July 12, Israel launched a massive offensive in Lebanon in retaliation for the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerillas in border clashes which also killed eight others.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon since the violence broke out while Israeli jets and artillery have responded with massive bombardments on targets across Lebanon.

On another front, Israel pressed ahead a four-week-old air and ground operation into the Gaza Strip in a bid to rescue another Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants and halt Palestinian rocket attacks.

Source: Xinhua