Hezbollah says it is ready to wage war against Sharon

BEIRUT, (AFP) - Hezbollah said Friday it was "ready more than ever" to wage war against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, accusing Washington of giving him the green light to strike the militant Shiite Muslim movement.

"Information is being leaked that Sharon has received US authorisation to strike at Hezbollah in Lebanon," Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told a religious ceremony Friday.

"In any case I tell Sharon and his masters that ... we are not mobilised at the highest level militarily but we are beyond any imagination spritually and psychologically," Nasrallah said.

"If Sharon wants to issue threats, let him do it. We are waiting with our eyes turned toward our people in Palestine and we will know how to fulfill our religious duties," he said in reference to jihad, or Muslim holy war.

Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, spearheaded the guerrilla fight against Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon, forcing Israeli troops to withdraw from the area in May 2000.