Hezbollah declares "open war" on Israel

Lebanon`s Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel in a fiery speech at the funeral on Thursday of a top commander killed in a car bombing he blamed on the Jewish state.

"Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, then let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," he said in a eulogy broadcast on a giant screen at Imad Mughnieh`s funeral in the Hezbollah bastion of southern Beirut.

Nasrallah said that by killing Mughnieh in a car bombing in Damascus on Tuesday, Israel had taken its battle with the Iranian- and Syrian-backed militant group beyond Lebanon`s borders and should expect attacks anywhere.

"You killed him outside our natural battleground," he was quoted by AFP as saying. "Our battleground with you is on Lebanese territory and you have overstepped the border."

"The blood of Imad Mughnieh will contribute to the disappearance of the Jewish state," he added.

With Mughnieh`s coffin covered in the Shiite Muslim movement`s yellow flag, Hezbollah`s leader said: "We must start marking the beginning of the fall of Israel.

"The July war is not over, it is ongoing and no ceasefire was ever declared," he said, referring to Israel`s 34-day offensive in 2006 that failed to recover two captured soldiers or halt rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

Israel, which has welcomed denied involvement in Mughnieh`s killing, placed all its embassies, consulates and Jewish institutions on alert after the Beirut speech.