Samir Kuntar, feted in Lebanon after his release from an Israeli jail, vowed to keep fighting the Jewish state.
”This time yesterday I was in the hands of the enemy. But right now I yearn, even more than before, to confront them,” Kuntar said Thursday during a pilgrimage to the grave of slain Hezbollah terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyeh. “And I ask Allah to make this happen soon.”
Though a Druze, Kuntar, who was jailed for a 1979 raid on Israel in which two men and a 4-year-old girl were killed, became a cause celebre for Hezbollah, an Iranian-sponsored Shi’ite militia.
He and four captured Hezbollah guerrillas who were repatriated Wednesday under an exchange with Israel were welcomed as Lebanese heros.
Having retrieved its men from Israeli prisons, Hezbollah vowed to turn its attention to gaining Shebaa Farms, a disputed border zone that is under Israel’s control, for Lebanon.
The United Nations said Shebaa Farms should be Syrian, and Israel has indicated willingness to discuss ceding the territory once there is agreement over its sovereignty.
But Kuntar said the war on Israel would not end there.
“Believe me, anyone who thinks freeing the Shebaa Farms or Lebanese lands will end this conflict is delusional,” he said. “We will not leave them alone and they will not leave us alone.”
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