Nasrallah Claims Major Progress in Qalamoun Battle, Warns State on Failure to Assume Responsibilities
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah claimed on Saturday a major achievement in the battle with jihadists in the Syrian border region of Qalamoun but stopped short of announcing full victory as expected and warned the state that the people would assume their responsibilities if it failed to act.
In a televised address, Nasrallah said Hizbullah has made “a major military progress” in the fighting between Syrian troops backed by his party's members and jihadists from al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group.
“There were many battles that led to the defeat of the armed men ... But we are still at the heart of the battle,” he said.
“Armed groups were severely defeated and they have withdrawn from all the areas that witnessed clashes,” Nasrallah stated. “Their bases have been destroyed … and the vehicles that they had rigged with explosives were detonated.”
But the Hizbullah chief warned “there would be no absolute security as long as the armed groups are present on the outskirts of (Lebanon's northeastern border town of) Arsal and the remaining part of Qalamoun's outskirts.”
The Qalamoun Mountains are on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon. Some of their heights reach 2,500 meters above sea level.
Nasrallah denied accusations that his party wanted to shove the army into the battle.
Hizbullah is keen on keeping troops out of the fighting, he said.
He also accused some officials and media outlets of leading the “psychological battle” on behalf of the jihadists and criticized them for calling the militants rebels.
“Are the armed groups that attacked Arsal and killed army officers called rebels? Or are they terrorists and murderers?” he wondered.
From the Qalamoun area, the jihadists have launched attacks inside Lebanon, including in August 2014, when fighters from al-Nusra Front and the IS briefly overran Arsal.
The groups took several dozen Lebanese security forces and troops with them as hostages when they withdrew from the town into the surrounding mountains.
They have since executed four of them.
Nasrallah denied what he described as exaggerated media reports on the number of Hizbullah fighters killed in Qalamoun, saying the party has so far lost 13 members in the fighting.
In his address, the Hizbullah secretary-general sought to garner further support from the Shiite community in the eastern Bekaa Valley and his party's strongholds by blaming the state for failing to act against the militants.
“If the Lebanese state accepts the occupation of its territories and approves that armed groups attack its army … then the Lebanese people will not accept that,” he said.
“The people will assume their responsibilities if the state fails to act,” he stressed.
“We are in an open-ended battle. It is the right of the people in Baalbek and Hermel to look forward for the abolishment of jihadists from their outskirts,” Nasrallah said.
Turning to the presidential deadlock, Nasrallah said his ally Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun is trying to propose solutions for the crisis.
He urged political parties to discuss them and study them.
“No one has an interest in having a vacuum,” he said.
On Friday, Aoun, a presidential candidate, made several suggestions to end the vacuum at the country's top Christian post.
But his proposals have not been welcomed by his rivals in the March 14 alliance.
16 May 2015, 23:33
107
Neither Nasrallah nor any official in Hezbollah ever said this would be a "victory speech", it was speculations by so-called "informed sources"
17 May 2015, 03:28
46
Informed sources for a reputable newspaper like Assafir are more than likely hizbollaat officials. But alas your asses got kicked badly today with the loss of Tallet Moussa and so the rat tried to deflect attention away from his hizb's mess that they can't get out of.
17 May 2015, 12:57
22
6ool 3omrkon nawar w bala akhle2 and you will always be like this. This was reported by Assafir ya 7mar.
16 May 2015, 23:41
106
lol jiddo, where did you get that one from? Getting senile, are we?
16 May 2015, 23:58
85
So now the beloved Sayed have said what we on Naharnet claimed for a long time, if Rifi & Hariri thinks they can keep an Umbrella over Arsal then he is terribly wrong.
If March 14 alliance further shackles the LAF, then the people of Lebanon will act themselves, evacuate the Arsal civilians and purify Arsal of the takfiris.
17 May 2015, 00:32
63
funny how hezbis go into syria to "liberate" it but fail to do anything for arsal... but barking and whining....
17 May 2015, 01:39
75
Problem with that is, we have you guys from M14 that indeed will bark, if the Resistance purified Arsal. Then you'd accuse & say that we go in to kill the Sunnah population, I know you people well, don't forget.
Secondly, it should be the job of the LAF since it is on Lebanese territory, aren't it you guys that swears the army are the sole defenders of Lebanon?
17 May 2015, 01:45
64
yes hypocrit... sure... you just hate the army and despise it... all you say is just pure hypocrisy...
since when does your iranian party obey the army? your party decides of peace and war never asking the lebanese army nor the state of Lebanon... how is that for "respect" you pretend to have, hypocrit antilebanese?
arsal is just an excuse your party uses to manipulate sheep like you.......
17 May 2015, 01:57
65
Wrong, I hate the takfiris though. I wish my family members stationed at Arsal would be allowed to liberate it, instead of being sitting ducks waiting to be attacked at any moment.
That is what you guys are doing to the LAF, keeping them in shackles, so they cannot defend themselves.
Now that is the situation for the LAF at this very moment, the takfiris are getting desperate on the Syrian side, so they will look for the weakest point in our defences - Arsal.
17 May 2015, 02:27
85
Oh really now peace? You want Hezbollah to clean up Arsal? Cut the hypocrisy for once in your life, you know very well that if they had we would have never heard the end of it from you guys.
Takfiris, m14 politicians and their followers alike would have sung the same song from morning to evening, painting it into a sectarian matter and accusing hezbollah of genocide or whatever.
17 May 2015, 02:29
65
no hezbollah has nothing to do in arsal... the army will perfectly do the job....
unlike you i believe in the army not in a terrorist islamist militia paid by iran....
17 May 2015, 02:33
85
You keep claiming you want the army to take charge of all military operations, well Arsal is exactly the king of situation where only the army should act, and can do so without stirring up sectarian tensions. Yet you blame Hezbollah for not doing it?
17 May 2015, 02:38
63
seems you do not understand my irony when asking why hezbis don't do anything... but what to expect from a brainwashed hezbi fanatic? intelligence? no never...
the army will perfectly defend Lebanon not your iranian militia....
17 May 2015, 03:30
65
Then let the LAF defend Lebanon, by removing their shackles and let them cleanse Arsal of ISIS & Al Nusra. Why do you want Arsal to remain takfiri-infested?
That is why we always call you M14ers takfiris, because you are openly protecting their presence in Lebanon.
17 May 2015, 03:31
54
They don't teach them irony in hizbollat schools they only teach them toqya
17 May 2015, 06:35
66
Nasrallah: Are the armed groups that attacked Arsal and killed army officers called rebels? Or are they terrorists and murderers?
Are the sectarians that attacked Yabrud, Qusair, Aleppo, Homs, Idlib and massacred women and children called resistance? or are they sectarian terrorists and murderers?
17 May 2015, 06:37
47
نصرالله: أهل بعبلك الهرمل الذين قاتلوا الاحتلال الاسرائيلي لن يقبلوا بوجود احتلال على مشارف قراهم.
I did not know there is foreign occupiers of Baalbak and Hermel villages:)
نصرالله: الرهان على عدد من الحوارات واللقاءات لم يصل إلى نتيجة لذا يجب ان نبحث عن مخارج أخرى.
Obviously, it is a direct call for an alternative: constituent assembly?
نصرالله: اوضاع السجون في البحرين مؤلمة ومفجعة في ظل الصمت العالمي.
Can he tell us about the state of his party's jails and those of the Syrian or Iranian regime?
17 May 2015, 00:04
76
You are simply a lunatic, like many others of March 14's people, you use media to claim victories & defeats without having any basic knowledge of the situation on the ground.
17 May 2015, 00:34
55
and of course you know everything that is going on the ground through elmanar....
17 May 2015, 01:34
75
I know from people, not just Al Manar even though they are on the field aswell.
17 May 2015, 01:59
75
Well don't believe me then, believe in facts. Which is what I am trying to tell you lunatics.
17 May 2015, 02:32
64
you are the expert here it seems, no? you hezbollahis always know evrything... LOL
17 May 2015, 00:09
75
Christians of Lebanon can't run themselves, which is why many of them simply turns away from Geagea and seeks Resistance instead, many Christians of Ras Baalbek supports the Resistance struggle in Qalamoun, because they are the ones being infested by the takfiris.
Not you people living in the West. Whom I don't count anyway.
17 May 2015, 00:11
75
If the Lebanese Armed Forces can't destroy the takfiris, then the Resistance will and all those people regardless of their sect whom cares about their families survival will join aswell including the local Christians etc.
17 May 2015, 01:40
55
Right now Arsal is contained by the LAF, now that is true. But if it happens that it spirals out of control as it did last summer, then I am sure the Resistance will take matters into their own hands.
17 May 2015, 01:49
64
arsal is just an excuse you use to manipulate people, hypocrit loser...
the very same technique as the syrians: set up a fire then come back as the brave firefighter ... you'll have your excuse to once again use your weapons against Lebanon and blame the army and state for its lack of action... the problem is that this technique is outdated but only works on weak minded people or in your case fanatic brainwashed idiots....
17 May 2015, 01:57
55
Actually, I don't blame the army. I blame M14 for the armys misfortunes and diseases to this land.
One disease called takfirism, that you people let flow in the wind freely.
17 May 2015, 02:31
54
sure M14 is to blame for everything....they have a strong militia threatening the state and decide for war and peace whereas hezbollah always abide by the laws and the words of the president... cut your old record hypocrit antilebanese who pledged allegiance to iran not to Lebanon....
17 May 2015, 03:33
54
You pledge allegiance to Saudi Arabia, so it goes both ways. By the way, why do you think it is the March 14 Alliance that stands for all the deals regarding the LAF weapons?
Because of the U.S sanctions, so everything the army recieves which is mainly scrap, the West will be willing to give us. Nothing else, not even real aircraft as the Gulf nations have.
