Hezbollah says ready for new showdown with Israel

"We have new (military) plans. We have completed ... our ground work in preparing our men, as well as our land, so that we would be ready if the Israeli (government) thought one day" of launching another attack, Sheikh Naim Qassim said in excerpts of the interview aired on Saturday.

"We have evaluated the events of the second war on Lebanon ... and looked at the points of strength and weakness in a way that we would learn from the results of this war," he said referring to Israel's devastating 34-day offensive last summer sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers.

The full interview will be broadcast later on Saturday.

On Monday, an Israeli probe accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israel's top army brass of "serious failure" in handling the war with Hezbollah, prompting calls on Olmert to step down.

Under the terms of a UN-brokered truce which ended the war, however, a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force is patrolling the volatile border area along with Lebanese soldiers, meant to keep Hezbollah away from the frontier.

Lebanese authorities say that Hezbollah continues to have a presence in the area, but no arms or military equipment are visible.

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