Nasrallah Claims Major Progress in Qalamoun Battle, Warns State on Failure to Assume Responsibilities
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“Armed groups were severely defeated and they have withdrawn from all the areas that witnessed clashes,” Nasrallah stated.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.
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