"WE WILL TAKE REVENGE"

By LARA MARLOWE, ROBERT FISK

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is secretary-general of Hizballah, the Lebanese guerrilla movement that fought a 16-day war with Israel last month. Nasrallah, 36, joined Hizballah shortly after it was founded with Iranian support in 1982. He was elected leader in February 1992, immediately after the assassination by the Israeli military of his friend and predecessor, Sheik Abbas Mussawi. In his first interview with Western correspondents since the fighting began, Nasrallah met with TIME's Beirut bureau chief, Lara Marlowe, and her husband Robert Fisk of Britain's Independent:

TIME: Will Hizballah retaliate for Israel's April 18 bombardment of the U.N. position at Qana, where more than 100 Lebanese civilians were killed?

Nasrallah: We will take revenge on the Israeli armed forces. They were responsible for killing our people in Qana, and they occupy our land.

TIME: Do you exclude any Hizballah action outside southern Lebanon?

Nasrallah: Yes. We totally exclude anything outside Lebanon. From the political point of view and the point of view of world public opinion, it is not in Hizballah's interest or to its benefit to retaliate anywhere outside the occupied area.

TIME: Can the cease-fire agreement work?

Nasrallah: The [cease-fire] understanding is very clear: it prohibits both sides from shelling civilians under any circumstances. But it is very difficult for the Israelis to refrain from shelling the villages, because the people they are fighting are Lebanese. When our people come back from attacks, they will go back to their homes.

TIME: Does Hizballah want the opposition Likud to win the Israeli election so the peace process will end?

Nasrallah: This war was waged for the electoral purposes of [Prime Minister Shimon] Peres. He thought if it happened before the election, it would save him. Experience has shown very clearly that there is no difference between Peres and [Likud's Benjamin] Netanyahu--except that Peres lies more than Netanyahu. Most of the wars launched against Lebanon and Arabs were launched by Labor governments.

TIME: When Clinton said at the March 13 "Summit of the Peacemakers" convened at Sharm el-Sheikh that the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups and Lebanese Hizballah were "enemies of peace," did you regard it as a declaration of war?

Nasrallah: Yes, of course. I believe Grapes of Wrath was not an Israeli military operation with an American green light. It was an Israeli operation decided by America. I believe when Clinton went to Tel Aviv after Sharm el-Sheikh he took the decision for Grapes of Wrath.

TIME: You have called the war a victory for Lebanon. Why?

Nasrallah: They wanted to make a split between the people and the resistance. But the resistance is now more popular than ever. They wanted to terrorize civilians so they would demonstrate on the streets to demand the disarming of Hizballah. They wanted a clash between the resistance and the government in Lebanon--just as Israel persuaded Arafat to fight Hamas. None of these goals were achieved.

TIME: How many Hizballah men died?

Nasrallah: On the night of the cease-fire, we had only 13 martyrs. On the second day of the cease-fire, one of our wounded brothers died. I want Peres to tell me, Where are those 80 Hizballah he says he killed?

TIME: Are you worried that the Israelis will assassinate you?

Nasrallah: No. He who takes this decision [to fight Israel] is ready for anything. I will be very happy when I get to a world without Clinton or Peres, with no atrocities, where no children are killed. That is why I am not worried.