Nasrallah: Mustaqbal 'First Victims' if IS and Nusra Win, We Won't Tolerate Terrorists in Arsal Outskirts
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Sunday that al-Mustaqbal movement and its leaders would be “the first victims” if the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front take a foothold in Lebanon, vowing that his group would try and eliminate the two groups' militants from the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal if the Lebanese state failed to do so.
“The first victims of al-Nusra and Daesh in Lebanon would be al-Mustaqbal movement and its leaders,” said Nasrallah in a televised speech marking the Liberation and Resistance Day, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group.
“Some people believe that their silence over Daesh and al-Nusra would protect them and some believe that they would be spared if they describe Daesh and al-Nusra as revolutionaries and freedom fighters,” Nasrallah said.
“Those who believe that their silence would protect them and their sect are delusional,” he added.
Addressing Lebanon's Christians, Nasrallah asked: “Who will protect your women from enslavement and your churches from destruction?”
He called on everyone in Lebanon and the region to “shoulder their responsibilities in the face of the threat” and to “end their silence and neutrality.”
“In Lebanon, (the) March 14 (coalition) has its calculations but the officials of the opposition Syrian coalition cannot represent a guarantee for you. They cannot even return to the Syrian regions that are under the control of Daesh and al-Nusra,” warned Nasrallah.
“You should fear the victory of Daesh, not the victory of the other camp,” he added, addressing March 14.
He noted that if the regime and its allies win in Syria, they would “represent the guarantee for all Lebanese.”
“But if Daesh and al-Nusra win, who would guarantee your safety?” Nasrallah added.
Reminiscing the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Nasrallah cautioned that “history is repeating itself” and “the scheme that is threatening the region is this brutal takfiri scheme that we are witnessing now.”
“The biggest manifestation of this scheme is Daesh, as we are before a scheme that is moving on the ground -- it is killing, abducting, slaughtering and destroying.
“Daesh is the headline of this period and it is not a small group. It is present in Syria and Iraq, in Sinai on Palestine's border, and in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, North Africa and Nigeria, and it has recently showed its presence on the ground in Saudi Arabia's Qatif,” added Nasrallah.
Turning to the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, Hizbullah's chief noted that it is “similar to Daesh but confined to Syria,” pointing out that the new Islamist rebel alliance calling itself the Army of Conquest is nothing but an attempt at rebranding by the group and its regional backers.
“We are before a danger that is unparalleled in history,” Nasrallah warned, referring to the IS group.
“How did Daesh act towards the Sunnis who did not cooperate with them? How did it act towards those who cooperated with it but refused to pledge allegiance? They were faced with massacres,” he noted.
“I tell those betting on the U.S. anywhere in the world to observe what happened in (Iraq's) Mosul and Ramadi ... The Iraqis who did not wait for the Americans managed to recapture several regions,” Nasrallah said, referring to the recent fall of Ramadi into the hands of IS jihadists.
As for the offensive waged by Hizbullah and regime forces in Syria's border region of Qalamoun, Nasrallah said the battle “will continue until the Syrian army, the National Defense Forces and the Lebanese resistance manage to secure the entire Lebanese-Syrian border.”
Commenting on the situation in the northeastern border town of Arsal and its outskirts, Hizbullah's leader stressed that his group “does not tolerate any harm” against its residents.
“When the bomb attacks were tearing our flesh apart in Hermel, al-Nabi Othman and Dahiyeh, we were saying that Arsal's people are our people,” he added.
Citing remarks by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq who said that Arsal is “occupied” by militant groups, Nasrallah called on the Lebanese state to protect the town and “regain” it from their hands.
“Do not evade debate over the issue of Arsal in the cabinet sessions,” said Nasrallah, addressing Mashnouq's Mustaqbal movement and its allies in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet.
“The vast majority in Arsal are feeling the heavy burden of the militant groups and we are ready to stand by Arsal's people, but the state must shoulder its responsibility,” Nasrallah added.
He vowed, however, that “our people in Baalbek and Hermel” will not tolerate “the presence of a single terrorist in the outskirts of Arsal and the Bekaa,” in an apparent hint that his party's fighters stand ready to intervene militarily in the town's outskirts against the extremist militants.
“Because Daesh is now threatening everyone, I call on Saudi Arabia to stop its aggression against Yemen and seek a political solution,” Nasrallah added.
Commenting on recent media reports, Nasrallah said those who are “counting” Hizbullah's casualties in the Syrian war are doing a “shameful” thing.
Hizbullah's leader also denied reports that he has called for “general mobilization,” noting that “it is too early for that.”
He pledged however that “if Hizbullah's leadership takes the decision to be present in the battlefields, you will witness the presence of tens of thousands of our fighters.”
Y.R.
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