Qassem Advises Opposition Not to Waste its Time

Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has advised some Lebanese parties to put Lebanon’s interest before any other interest and work to solve the daily problems of the people rather than betting on the Shiite party’s downfall.

In an interview with As Safir daily published Monday, Qassem said: “Lebanon’s interest should be put before other personal interests and before the logic of farms and different foreign guardianships.”

Asked if he thought that Israel would launch a new war on Lebanon, the Hizbullah deputy chief told the newspaper that the Jewish state is marred by problems on living conditions and economic hardships.

Last week, 250,000 people flooded into Israel's main cities to demand economic reforms to ease the cost of living and income disparity.

“That’s why we rule out any Israeli adventure against Lebanon,” Qassem said.

He stressed that the resistance was on the right track no matter how much Lebanon witnessed clashes among different political parties and no matter how critical the situation in the Arab world became.

“We always stress (Hizbullah’s) readiness because it is not linked to negative or positive political developments,” he told his interviewer.

Qassem was adamant that even the developments in Syria will not affect Lebanon, which according to him is characterized by the bond between the army, the people and the resistance.

He advised “those who are betting that the changes in Syria will affect the resistance not to waste their time or wrongly mobilize their supporters.”

He said in reference to the March 14-led opposition that it should contribute to finding solutions to problems which fall in the interests of both Lebanon and Syria.

When asked about President Michel Suleiman’s invitation for national dialogue, Qassem said: “We support the dialogue to discuss the national defense strategy and we reject any preconditions and changes.”

March 14 is conditioning its participation in the all-party talks on finding a solution to Hizbullah’s “illegitimate arms.”

“Lebanon has a single enemy which is Israel and we should discuss the defense strategy to protect Lebanon in the appropriate way. Full stop,” he said.