After being asked to comment on reports that the United States had given Israel a week to deal with Hizbollah, Arkadi Mil-Man said: "First of all, I don't know that anyone has talked about a week or 10 or five days."
"Second, Israel stated in no uncertain terms that it was launching a military operation. Is it possible to start a military operation on such a level, designed to wipe out a terrorist infrastructure that took decades to build, and then announce that we will end it in, say, 48 hours?" he said.
Officials on both sides of the conflict said that at least 300 Lebanese and 29 Israelis had seen killed since the air strikes and missile attacks started eight days ago after the abduction of two Israeli soldiers.
The ambassador said Israel was a sovereign state that needed no advice from anyone in choosing what measures to take.
"These measures should be commensurate to the level of threat," he said, adding that Hizbollah had already fired over 1,600 missiles.
"They have at least another 8,000 missiles. If a ceasefire is announced tomorrow, these 8,000 missiles will continue to threaten Israel, while Hizbollah will remain unchanged," he said.
