In the aftermath of the assassination of Hezbollah's military commander, Imad Mugniyah, in Syria, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has declared "open war" on Israel.  

Mugniyah, alleged to have been behind some of the deadliest attacks against Western and Israeli targets around the world, was killed by a car bomb in Damascus on February 13, 2008.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for killing Mugniyah, Hezbollah, as well as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), have accused Israel of masterminding the assassination.

During Mugniyah's funeral in Beirut on February 14, Nasrallah threatened to attack Israeli targets abroad and warned Israel that the assassination will result in the "disappearance of the Jewish state."  He also said, "Today Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance are ready to confront any Israeli aggression in Lebanon... You crossed the borders. Zionists, if you wanted open war, let it be an open war anywhere."  

Nasrallah also threatened that in the future there will be "tens of thousand loyal fighters who are willing to die as martyrs." 

In March 2008, Nasrallah threatened Israel again when he told thousands of supporters at a rally marking the end of the 40-day mourning period of Mugniyah that "the Zionist entity can be wiped out of existence." 

Mugniyah, believed to have masterminded the kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s, is also alleged to have been behind the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed more than 350; the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29; and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85.  Mugniyah, who was added to the FBI list of "most wanted terrorists" in 2001, was indicted by the U.S. for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane. The hijackers killed a U.S. Navy diver on board.