Barak Warns Israel Will Attack Lebanon If Hizbullah Starts War

Israel will consider Lebanese government buildings and bases a target if Hizbullah starts up another war against Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Monday.

The Defense Minister revealed that then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Ehud Olmert, when he was Prime Minister in 2006 and asked him not to touch what Barak called the "precious government of Beirut.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Post, Defense Minister Barak added, "We didn't [attack it]. I think that they're responsible for what happens, and if it happens that Hizbullah will shoot into Tel Aviv, we will not run after each Hizbullah terrorist or launcher of some rocket in all Lebanon. We'll see the government of Lebanon responsible for what happens, and for what happens within its government, its body politic, and its arsenal of munitions. And we will see it as a legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to the Hizbullah.