Hezbollah announces, then postpones, speech by Qassem
Hezbollah swiftly announced the postponement of its chief Sheikh Naim Qassem's speech after saying in a previous statement that he would give a speech on Tuesday.
The statement and the postponement came as U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein visited Beirut seeking an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Qassem will speak "today", a statement from Hezbollah said, without specifying a time, before later announcing that it was postponed, as Hochstein told a Beirut press conference that "a real opportunity" to end the almost two-month-long war was "within our grasp."
Shortly after announcing it would take place, Hezbollah said Qassem's speech "has been postponed to a date to be determined later."
Sources told Al-Arabiya television that Qassem’s speech was postponed because a meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri and Hochstein was "not up to expectations."
The Berri-Hochstein meeting did not resolve the pending points, most importantly the clause on “the right to self-defense,” the sources added.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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