Nasrallah Slams March 14, Says Hizbullah Won't Kill 'Ordinary' Israelis to Avenge Mughniyeh
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday hit back at the rival March 14 camp over the speeches delivered by its leaders on the seventh anniversary of ex-PM Rafik Hariri’s assassination.
“Two days ago Lebanon marked an occasion that is dear to all the Lebanese: the anniversary of ex-PM Hariri’s martyrdom and we extend our condolences to his admirers and voice our condemnation of such assassinations,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating Hizbullah’s “martyr leaders.”
Addressing the leaders of the March 14 camp, Nasrallah said: “You are not in a position that allows you to put conditions or impose conditions. You had put conditions in 2006 and the war (with Israel) ended without your conditions. You are not in a position to give guarantees in Lebanon concerning the developments in the region.”
Slamming March 14’s rhetoric, Hizbullah’s chief noted that “anyone keen on preventing Sunni-Shiite strife must right now stop the statements of their MPs and media outlets that are full of despicable sectarianism.”
“During the February 14 anniversary, they should’ve let someone other than (Lebanese Forces leader) Samir Geagea count the massacres (in Syria),” Nasrallah said, sarcastically suggesting National Bloc chief Carlos Edde for that role.
Commenting on Geagea’s reminder in his speech of the 1987 killing of Hizbullah members at the hands of the Syrian forces in Lebanon, Nasrallah said: “The issue of the Fathalla (Barracks) massacre is not something to be used against as even when the Syrian army committed mistakes we did not battle it because we took Palestine, Jerusalem and Lebanon into consideration.”
And criticizing the letter sent by the opposition Syrian National Council and recited during the Feb. 14 rally by March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid, Nasrallah said sarcastically: “It is a good start for the opposition Syrian National Council to have Fares Soaid as its spokesman.”
He also slammed the March 14 forces for “sending weapons to Syria,” while telling Hizbullah not to interfere in Bahrain.
“You have pinned your hopes on one bet (the fall of the Syrian regime) because you don’t have anything else to offer and you have betted on outside developments as usual,” Nasrallah charged.
He said that the March 14 forces were “confident that the regime will fall like they were confident concerning their other failed bets.”
“You have called for neutrality towards Israel, so why don’t you call for neutrality towards Syria?” Nasrallah asked his rivals.
Addressing the issue of Hizbullah’s controversial arsenal of weapons, Nasrallah said: “Why don’t you be clear concerning the issue of weapons? We are saying that we are boasting our arsenal in quantity and quality and that we have known and secret weapons because we should always prepare surprises for the Israelis.”
“Why don’t you say that you possess arms, which are evident on the streets and in the videos? When we talk about the arms of the resistance we do so because they are aimed at liberating the land, we don’t talk about the arms of others to justify our own,” Nasrallah added.
He wondered: “What is preventing the rise of the state? The rockets which are pointed at Israel or the light weapons used for crimes and killing people?”
Commenting on March 14’s support for the Arab Spring uprisings, Hizbullah’s chief said: “Do you really believe that the Cedar Revolution gave birth to the Arab Spring? The Arab Spring was against the regimes run by (former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza) Rice, (Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey) Feltman and (U.S. Secretary of State Hillary) Clinton, the same people who were supervising you in 2006.”
“Were you the ones who toppled (ousted Egyptian president Hosni) Mubarak?”
However, Nasrallah voiced support for any call for “unconditional” national dialogue.
The March 14 camp insists that dialogue should be limited to the issue of Hizbullah’s arms.
Justifying Hizbullah’s support for the embattled Syrian regime, Nasrallah said it was not fair or just to “equate regimes that have done the impossible to ensure Israel’s survival with other regimes that have done the impossible for Palestine’s survival.”
“The Arab governments are too busy today to notice what is going on in Palestine and the spotlight is on Syria, and I won’t say Bahrain as there lies the great injustice,” Nasrallah noted.
“The Israeli is carrying on with his scheme of Judaization and mistreating the detainees, such as detainee Khodr Adnan who is staging a hunger strike and who is facing the threat of death. Had Khodr Adnan been Israeli would the world act the same way? Had he been an Israeli held by one of the resistance movements, wouldn’t Arab kings interfere to resolve his case?” Nasrallah wondered.
He warned that the Arab world should observe “Israel’s stance on what is going on today in the region, especially on what is being tried in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon.”
“Any alternative in Syria is better for Israel as the opposition is being sponsored by the U.S. and the Arabs whose history is well-known. I call for a little contemplation on why the entire world is insisting on toppling the Syrian regime. According to the approach we believe in, the regime is defiant and it did not betray the resistance in Lebanon, Palestine or Iraq,” Nasrallah pointed out.
“The last thing they tell you during debate is that he (Assad) did not open up the Golan front, but have you opened up the fronts or cut off the financial support to the Palestinians?” he said, addressing the Arab countries that are critical of the Syrian regime.
Nasrallah noted that “everyone is calling for reform, including the regime which formed a committee tasked with drafting a full new constitution and a media law.”
“They asked me whether Assad would accept to abolish Article 8 and I said yes. Did they ask for reforms other than those adopted so far? There is insistence on armed confrontation,” he added.
Nasrallah accused Arab countries of rejecting any “political” solution in Syria.
“We ask the Arab governments about their vision on how to deal with Israel and they tell us ‘a political solution’ and they are still awaiting the Arab (peace) initiative endorsed in 2000 and they are still hoping for a political solution. But when we tell them negotiate with Syria on a political solution they answer that there’s no time. How do you accept negotiation with Israel while you don’t accept to negotiate with an Arab state?” Hizbullah’s chief asked.
“Arabs deprived the resistance in Palestine of weapons and tried arms smugglers, while they are publicly declaring now that they will send weapons to Syria. Who are they trying to serve? Isn’t this Arab insistence on toppling the Syrian regime suspicious?”
Raising the issue of the Bahraini uprising, Nasrallah accused the anti-Syria Arab countries of turning a blind eye to the heavy-handed crackdown by the authorities there.
“Live ammunition was fired at the demonstrators in Bahrain and you remained silent. We know about the secret relation between Bahrain and Israel,” Nasrallah added.
“Would an Arab king or sheikh introduce the reforms launched by President Assad? The Americans are ridiculing them because they are seeking destruction,” he noted.
Separately, Nasrallah denied his armed group had any role in a recent series of attacks on Israeli diplomats.
"Regarding the explosions that took place in India, Georgia and Thailand, I can tell you categorically that Hizbullah has nothing to do" with them, he said.
Nasrallah said Hizbullah would find other ways to take revenge for the 2008 killing of top Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh.
"Our revenge will not (be) against soldiers and Israeli diplomats or ordinary Israelis," said the Hizbullah chief, without elaborating.
"The day will come when we shall avenge Imad Mughniyeh with honor," he said.
Israel has accused Iran of being behind the attacks, a charge the Islamic republic promptly denied.
Thai police said that Israeli diplomats were the intended target of a failed bomb attack in Bangkok on Tuesday, a day after attacks on Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia.
Bangkok has been on alert since mid-January when police arrested a Lebanese man with alleged links to Hizbullah on suspicion he was planning an attack, following a U.S. warning that tourists might be targeted.
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