Hezbollah reiterates pledge to avenge Israel's assassination of its operative

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reiterated Sunday his pledge that his group will retaliate against Israel over the assassination of its senior operative Samir al-Quntar.

"The retaliation to Samir's (Quntar) assassination will inevitably come," Nasrallah vowed in a televised speech marking one week since Quntar's death in an Israeli air raid on Jaramana, a Damascus neighborhood.

Nasrallah said the timing and place of the retaliation is now in the hands of Hezbollah's fighters and military commanders.

Hezbollah played a key role in Quntar's release after he had spent 30 years in Israeli jails, known as the longest-serving Arab prisoner.

Shortly after his release, Quntar joined Hezbollah.

On Dec. 21, Nasrallah had pledged that Hezbollah would retaliate to the assassination "at the appropriate time and place and in the appropriate method." Endit