Nasrallah Slams U.S. Role and Parties that 'Receive Orders from Embassies'
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has lashed out at what he called the “subversive” U.S. influence in Lebanon, while questioning the Lebanese identity of political parties which he said are “receiving orders from embassies.”
Noting that “U.S. attempts to open communication channels with Hizbullah” through various parties “have not stopped” over the past years, Nasrallah charged in an interview on Iran’s al-Alam TV that “the American influence in Lebanon is subversive.”
“The U.S. embassy in Awkar recruited Lebanese nationals to gather information for the Israelis,” he said.
“The entire Lebanese banking system is subject to the decisions of the U.S. Treasury,” Nasrallah noted, adding that “delegations from the U.S. embassy are roaming the country and are interfering in the issue of elections.”
Stressing that Hizbullah's decisions are Lebanese and do not come from Iran, Nasrallah added that “some parties which receive orders from embassies must be asked about their Lebanese identity.”
“I ask all those accusing Hizbullah to tell us about a single act that Hizbullah did for the sake of Iran rather than for the sake of Lebanon,” he said, emphasizing that “Hizbullah belongs to this country and its history and social fabric.”
As for the upcoming parliamentary elections, Hizbullah’s leader said that “no one can predict the elections' result from now.”
“It is wrong to say that the elections will be a battle between those who are with the resistance and those who are against it,” he added, while noting that there are parties that are neutral regarding the question of resisting Israel.
He however added that Hizbullah “wants the resistance's friends to be plenty in parliament.”
Asked about the paper of demands that has been recently submitted to Lebanon by the Gulf countries, Nasrallah said “it would have been better to go to a dialogue between Lebanon and the Arab countries.”
“This would have been appropriate and we support this,” he said.
“The paper calls for handing over Hizbullah's arms in return for the bread of the Lebanese,” Nasrallah charged.
Blasting Saudi Arabia and the UAE for “interfering in Lebanon's affairs and in the domestic affairs of all Arab countries,” Nasrallah added: “We (in Hizbullah) are not interfering in Saudi Arabia or the UAE. They are waging a war against the Yemeni people and we are supporting the Yemeni people.”
Asked about the possibility of Israel carrying out a strike to destroy Hizbullah’s precision-guided missiles, Nasrallah ruled out such a scenario and said that the missiles “are not present in one place.”
“This does not allow Israel to destroy them,” he added.
He also noted that Israel would need an all-out war and not a military strike in order to destroy these missiles.
“Is Israel ready to go to a real and full war?” he added.
“Israel fears war and it is using the economic and financial issue to reach a handover of Hizbullah's weapons,” Nasrallah went on to say, noting that Israel is “still betting on the Lebanese domestic situation.”
Hizbullah’s leader also reiterated that his group “does not seek war” and is not fond of it while stressing that it is “not afraid of it.”
“We will not give up our national interests if threatened by war,” he added.
Source: Naharnet
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