Hezbollah 'did not expect Israeli onslaught'
A senior Hezbollah official said tonight that the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of its two soldiers last month.
Mahmoud Komati, the deputy chief of the Hezbollah politburo, also said his group would not lay down arms.
“The truth is – let me say this clearly – we didn’t even expect (this) response.... that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us,” said Komati.
He said Hezbollah had expected “the usual, limited response” from Israel.
In the past, he said, Israeli responses to Hezbollah actions included sending commandos into Lebanon and kidnapping Hezbollah officials or briefly targeting specific Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon.
He said his group had anticipated there would be negotiations on the exchange of the soldiers with three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it did before.
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