Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday accused Israel of being behind a report implicating his party in the killing of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and called the claim "very, very dangerous".

"The report in Der Spiegel is very, very, very dangerous," Nasrallah said in comments transmitted via video link to thousands of supporters massed in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.

"I consider the report in Der Spiegel an Israeli accusation that Hezbollah killed the martyr Rafiq Hariri and we will deal with this claim as such," he said.

"Israel has issued its verdict in the Hariri case," he said in a speech marking the ninth anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday that the UN commission probing the Hariri murder had new evidence that Hezbollah special forces "planned and executed" the Beirut car bombing on 14 February 2005.

The attack killed the billionaire former premier and 22 other people.

"Through this report they (the Israelis) are saying that if the international community does not punish Hezbollah then Israel will punish it along with its leader," he added.

Israel has reacted to the report by calling for an international arrest warrant for Nasrallah.

"The report in Der Spiegel on Nasrallah's direct involvement in the assassination of Hariri should raise concern in the entire international community," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday.

"He should have an international arrest warrant issued against him, and if not, he should be arrested by force," he added.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor at The Hague-based tribunal said it was unclear where the German magazine had gotten its story.

"The office of the prosecutor doesn't comment on any issues related to operational aspects of the investigation," the spokesperson said.

Der Spiegel's report comes ahead of a 7 June election pitting Lebanon's US- and Saudi-backed parliamentary majority against an alliance headed by Hezbollah, supported by Syria and Iran.

Nasrallah said the report was clearly aimed at sowing discord between the country's Sunnis — most of whom back the majority in parliament headed by Hariri's son Saad — and the Shiites, most of whom back Hezbollah and its allies.

"The Israelis and the Americans wondered how to scuttle the election and influence its outcome. Der Spiegel was their answer," Nasrallah said.

"Spiegel... and the Zionists are saying: 'Oh Sunnis, those who killed your leader are the Shiites and more specifically Hezbollah," he said. "As such, your vengeance and your war should be directed at them."

The Hezbollah chief in his hour-long speech which was met with celebratory gunfire in Beirut also warned that his troops would be on alert when Israel launches one of its biggest military manoeuvres ever at the end of this month.

"No one will see us, no one will see our weapons, no one will know we're there," he said. "If you are stupid enough to enter our land, we will destroy your troops and your army."

Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 that killed more than 1200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

AFP

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