Reactions to Mughniyeh’s Death

· IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari predicted Hezbollah will destroy Israel soon; “In the near future, we will witness the destruction of Israel, the aggressor, this cancerous growth Israel, by means of the Hizbollah fighters' radiation,” Gen. Jafari said; his comments came in a condolence message to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah after assassination in Damascus of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh [IRNA].

· Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed Israel for killing Mughniyeh; Khamenei hailed Mughniyeh as a “great man”; Khamenie predicted that Mughniyeh’s death would increase resistance against Israel.

· Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki attended Mughniyeh’s funeral in the Shiite suburbs of Beirut; in a speech, Mottaki spoke of Iran's respect for Mughniyeh.

· Mughniyeh was suspected of masterminding the abduction of Western hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s, the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people, the bombing of the US Marine barracks at Beirut airport in 1983, in which 241 American servicemen died and the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985, in which a US navy diver was killed.

· Israel welcomed the death of Mughniyeh. The Sunday Times, citing Israeli intelligence officials, reported yesterday that Imad Mughniyeh was killed by a powerful bomb planted by Mossad inside his car.

· Israel announced today it will launch a complain at UN Security Council over the statement by IRGC commander; Israel said Gen. Jafari’s comments were an expression of hope for the destruction of a fellow member state in the UN, as well as a statement which is “anti-Semitic and expressing the worst kind of racism.”