VOA常速英语2008年-Israel Denies Involvement in Hezbollah Leader's

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
13 February 2008

Officials in Israel say they are not responsible for the bombing that killed Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah leader involved in terrorist attacks against Israel and the West for three decades.  VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem, Israeli officials say Mughniyeh was responsible for some of the worst attacks ever carried out against Israel and Jews around the world.

Israeli officials are rejecting any attempt to link Israel to the bombing that killed Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, but it is safe to say that they feel that his death was long overdue¹. 

Mughniyeh had haunted Israeli officials for three decades, ever since he was a teenage sniper in Beirut working for Yasser Arafat's Force 17 militia².  Two years ago he reportedly masterminded the abduction of two Israeli soldiers from Israel's northern border - an incident that led to the second Lebanon War.

Moshe Marzuk the former head of Lebanon intelligence for the Israeli Defense³ Forces says Israel considered Mughniyeh to be even more dangerous than Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah.

"He was very dangerous because he was the same level as (Hezbollah leader) Hassan Nasrallah or even more," Marzuk said. "Because he was involved in any direct military attacks against Israel.  He brought the Iranian policy behind these attacks with all his hatred⁴ against Israel."

Marzuk says Israeli intelligence officials always went on alert when they heard Imad Mughniyeh was in southern Lebanon because it usually meant an attack was imminent⁵.  Israeli officials say Mughniyeh attacked Israeli interests and Jews around the world - saying he was responsible for the 1992 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish Cultural center in Buenos Aires that killed more than 100 people. 

As to who killed Imad Mughniyeh?  Moshe Marzuk says he was a man with many enemies.  

"Maybe it can be another side, not exactly Israel," Marzuk said. "Because Imad Mughniyeh has other enemies, not only Israel, of course the Americans and maybe Syria also.  And maybe elements in Iraq, because we know that in the last few years Mughniyeh was also acting⁶ in Iraq.  He was behind the training of the Mahdi army, the Shia army in Iraq, and behind many terrorist acts in Iraq against Americans there, and he connected to Iran there."

Moshe Marzuk says whoever killed Imad Mughniyeh, his death is unlikely to lead to a direct Hezbollah attack on Israel from Lebanon.  Marzuk says while Hezbollah will probably try and attack Israel, one of the lessons Imad Mughniyeh taught Hezbollah is that Israel can be attacked from anywhere in the world. 

1 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

2 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

5 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。