'We shall win,' Hezbollah leader says

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 26 (UPI) -- The Lebanese resistance movement will win any new war and forever change the region, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah lashed out at Israel for taking an aggressive stance against Lebanon. Tensions on both sides of the border remain high despite a 2006 truce between Hezbollah and Israel.

Nasrallah said all parties in Lebanon agree that the threat from Israel should be pushed away.

"This is good and we agree with this, however, we should not bargain on this," Hezbollah's al-Manar news station quoted him saying. "The real bargain is on our national capability to defend and confront in the battlefield."

Beirut is divided over Hezbollah's weapons. Critics said disarming would quiet Israel while advocates said deterrence is needed.

Hezbollah is accused of receiving shipments of long-range missiles, including Scuds, from Syria. Nasrallah said, however, that he was "not announcing that we possess a new weapon." Instead, he warned Israel that if its military approached Lebanese shores "in any coming war," it would come under the fire from Hezbollah members "across the Mediterranean."

"We shall confront the next war, we shall win and we shall change the face of this region," he concluded.

His warnings come as Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri travels Wednesday to New York to deliver a speech before the U.N. Security Council.

Hariri is in the United States this week to discuss regional developments. Lebanon holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for May.