国际英语新闻：Hezbollah not allow arrest of fighters in Hariri probe: Nasrallah

BEIRUT, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chief of Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah said Thursday that the party would not allow the arrest of any of its members by a UN-backed court probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

"Those who think that we will allow that our fighters to be arrested are mistaken," Hezbollah's general secretary Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech transmitted via video link. " We will cut off the hand that touches any of them."

Tensions over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), probing the Hariri assassination in 2005 have mounted in months after Hezbollah and western media reports said the STL was moving towards indicting "rogue" members of the party.

Nasrallah reiterated that the STL was a tool used by the United States and Israel "to target resistance" against the Jewish State. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri - son of the late ex-premier - said his government will not withdraw its support to the tribunal.

"The Americans and those who support the tribunal do not care about what's going to happen in Lebanon, or about Rafic Hariri or the March 14 Alliance," he said in reference to Lebanon's Western- backed bloc. "The U.S. is only cares about Israel's interests."

Nasrallah said Israel wanted to "target, isolate, corner, and weaken" Hezbollah to make his group surrender. Israel's and its arch foe Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006, which claimed the lives of around 1, 200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis.

Reports about Israel's launching a war against his group when the STL indictment is issued did not scare him, Nasrallah said. " We are ready for any Israeli war on Lebanon and will again emerge victorious," he said.

Contacts undertaken by Saudi Arabia and Syria to contain tensions over the tribunal in Lebanon were "very serious", the Hezbollah chief said. But, according to Nasrallah, Saudi-Syrian mediation efforts did not please several Lebanese groups who sought the support of the U.S..

The U.S. pledges last week 10 million U.S. dollars to the Hariri probe, with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reaffirming on Wednesday her country's support to the STL and its commitment to a "strong, independent and stable Lebanon."