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TENSE TIMES: Hizbollah guerillas saluting during the funeral of their assassinated commander Imad Mughnieh in Beirut yesterday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM - ISRAEL braced itself for possible retaliation yesterday as the funeral of Imad Mughnieh, a shadowy top Hizbollah commander who was one of the world's most-wanted terrorists, got under way in neighbouring Lebanon.
Hizbollah and its top ally Iran have accused Israel of orchestrating the bombing of the terrorist's SUV. The blast killed Mughnieh and damaged nine or 10 other vehicles in Damascus on Tuesday night. No one else was killed in the blast.
The charge was rejected by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. But senior officials in Jerusalem made no effort to conceal their approval of Mughnieh's death.
The United States, which at one time had a US$25 million (S$35 million) bounty on Mughnieh's head, welcomed it.
Mughnieh - called the No.1 terrorist in the world, even before Osama bin Laden, by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot - was linked to several notorious attacks against Western and Israeli targets in the 1980s and 1990s.
His death could raise tensions between Israel and Hizbollah, as well as with the militants' allies, Syria and Iran.
Israel and Hizbollah fought a bloody war in 2006, and some Lebanese figures close to the Shi'ite group have called for attacks against Israel in retaliation for Mughnieh's death.
Sheik Afif Al-Naboulsi, the head of south Lebanon's religious scholars and a prominent Shi'ite cleric close to Hizbollah, said: 'Every attack against the resistance (Hizbollah) will be met with a response from the resistance.
'An eye for an eye, a person for a person and a leader for a leader.'
Israel has put its embassies and other missions around the world on high alert and has also boosted troop deployments on the Lebanese border in response to Mughnieh's death.
'Hizbollah will try to find our weak point and attack us, but without triggering a war with Israel, to prove that Mughnieh has been avenged,' said an unidentified official.
He said Hizbollah was unlikely to unleash rockets on northern Israel, as it did during the 2006 war, for fear of an 'extreme' reaction, for which Lebanon would pay the price.
But another security official told AFP that communities in northern Israel were bracing themselves for possible rocket attacks. He added that the army was on a heightened state of alert in the occupied West Bank, where it is believed that Hizbollah cells may exist.
Army radio said the domestic security agency Shin Beth, which is also responsible for protection abroad, has recommended stepped-up security measures for the Israeli airline El Al, for the country's shipping, and generally for synagogues and Jewish institutions around the world.
An army spokesman declined to comment on the reports, which came as Hizbollah held a funeral ceremony for Mughnieh in the Shi'ite suburbs of Beirut yesterday.
Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah - himself in hiding because of fears of assassination since the 2006 summer conflict - yesterday declared 'open war' on Israel in a fiery videotaped message broadcast at the funeral.
'The blood of Imad Mughnieh will contribute to the disappearance of the Jewish state,' he said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was among the throngs of Hizbollah supporters who turned up to bid farewell to Mughnieh, whose body was transported to south Beirut from Syria on Wednesday and laid in a refrigerated coffin. Hizbollah's yellow flag was draped over the coffin.
The funeral ceremony coincided with the third anniversary of the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, which was being marked by the Hizbollah's pro-Western opponents.
The two gatherings showcased Lebanon's divided soul but also increased fears of violence between the rival sides.
There are fears that Mughnieh's death could stir up more domestic turmoil in the deeply divided country, where the Hizbollah-led opposition is locked in a bitter power struggle with the Western-backed government.
NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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