Nasrallah Says Hizbullah Will Be 'Where It Needs to Be' in Syria: Intimidation Won't Change Our Stance
Hizbullah will stay involved in the Syrian conflict, after having helped regime forces recapture the key town of Qusayr from rebels, party leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Friday, noting that Hizbullah is “open to any discussion over Syria."
"Before Qusayr is the same as after Qusayr. Nothing has changed," Nasrallah said in a televised speech marking the Resistance Wounded Fighter Day.
"Isn't the conspiracy the same?... Have the facts changed? On the contrary, the other side is stirring up this conflict even more," said Nasrallah.
"Where we need to be, we will be. Where we began to assume our responsibilities, we will continue to assume our responsibilities," he added.
"To defeat this very, very dangerous conspiracy (against Syria) we will bear any sacrifices and all the consequences."
But the Hizbullah chief stressed that his party is “open to any discussion over Syria,” revealing that “some scholars are sending us initiatives.”
Hizbullah fighters spearheaded a devastating 17-day regime assault on the Syrian town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border which culminated on June 5 with its recapture from the rebels.
Nasrallah had previously justified the group's involvement in Syria by saying they were defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites in the Damascus province.
But during a May 25 speech marking the 13th anniversary of Israel's military withdrawal from Lebanon, Nasrallah said "if Syria falls in the hands of the Takfiris and the United States, the resistance will become under a siege and Israel will enter Lebanon. If Syria falls, the Palestinian cause will be lost.”
The regime has said it plans to build on that victory by trying to retake large parts of the northern city of Aleppo and its surrounding province, but it is unclear whether Hizbullah will also join that operation.
"The details will depend on the requirements on the ground," Nasrallah said in the Friday afternoon address.
“Are we really fighting in al-Raqqa, Tartus, Idlib, Deir Ezzor, al-Hasakeh and Daraa? The answer is no. We have decent capabilities and we believe that any modest support is useful in the face of a global scheme that is targeting everyone,” he added.
But Hizbullah's intervention has been condemned internationally, and regionally by the Arab League and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which announced sanctions against the group in response.
Nasrallah said the GCC's decision came as "no surprise."
"There are no Hizbullah members in the Gulf... We have no projects in the Gulf or elsewhere," he said.
Nasrallah said Hizbullah understands “the extreme anger” of the Arab states because “they were the sponsors of this scheme and they made an adventure and they are feeling that this scheme is being defeated and that the balance of power has changed.”
"If anyone thinks they are threatening us by putting us on a list of terrorist groups or by targeting the Lebanese (diaspora), they are mistaken," he added. "This will only strengthen our conviction that we're on the right track."
“Intimidation, Takfir and curses will not yield anything and you are mistaken if you believe that we will change our stance,” added Nasrallah.
He noted: “We are defending Syria and the Syrian people and Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”
Turning to the conflict between the Syrian regime and opposition, Nasrallah said: “The story of the regime and the people ended long time ago. Let no one tell us that we are with the regime and against the Syrian people, as large portions of the people are with the regime and we are with these people.”
He noted that “thousands of fighters have come from all around the world and the entire world is fighting in Syria through money, weapons and media.”
“After two years we realized that they are insisting on continuing the battle, even if Syria was destroyed and the regime fell ... and the alternative is the groups that are killing and slaughtering people,” Nasrallah added.
He noted that Hizbullah was “the last party to intervene in Syria while al-Mustaqbal Movement and other Lebanese parties were the first to intervene, not to mention the other nations, groups and organizations.”
Defending the intervention, he said: “There is a front that was targeted by the Americans, the Israelis and the Takfiris, and we were attacked when we intervened on the side of this front.”
Hitting back at former premier Saad Hariri without naming him, Nasrallah said: “We are among the people who are the keenest on Lebanon and its state, entity, existence and unity, and we offered our blood for its sake.”
“We were born here, we grew up here and we will stay here. We will die here, we will be martyred here and no one will be able to uproot us from our land and country,” he added.
“The strongest army in the Middle East, the Israeli army, was smashed at the feet of our jihadist fighters. Who are those who are speaking of uprooting us from here or there? We will remain here for the sake of this country's freedom and dignity and we will remain ready to pay a hefty price,” he went on to say.
Nasrallah insisted Hizbullah was against increased sectarian tension in Lebanon, and urged his supporters and others to keep the calm in the country.
“We urge the highest levels of restraint concerning the security situation and we call for avoiding any form of tensions, whether during grief, anger or joy, because any incident might have inappropriate repercussions on people, security and on all of us,” he said.
Nasrallah noted that “there is a delicate situation in the Baalbek-Hermel area -- which includes the rockets that are falling on the area -- that needs special care.”
“The sensitive point is that some media outlets are circulating rumors that these rockets are being fired from Arsal and its barren mountains -- they are accusing a Sunni town of shelling Shiites towns,” he said.
“And whenever a Arsal resident is killed or attacked, some politicians directly accuse Hizbullah. Some media outlets are spreading lies and I call on everyone to verify any report. I announce that the rockets were not fired from Arsal, but rather by the armed groups inside Syrian territory and God willing we will find a solution to this issue,” Nasrallah vowed.
Turning to the recent deadly incident outside the Iranian embassy in Bir Hassan, Nasrallah said: “The incident outside the Iranian embassy is rejected and unacceptable and it is a spontaneous incident in which a dear person was killed and aggrieved.”
“Some people tell us to respect the other opinion and accuse us of not respecting the other opinion, while we are the ones who are being cursed night and day on daily basis. Our figures, scholars, sect and ideas are being cursed on podiums and we haven't responded because our religion and our brains forbid us from doing so,” Nasrallah noted.
Commenting on recent media reports, Hizbullah's leader said: “They published a report claiming that Hizbullah members had hoisted the flag of (Imam) Hussein on the Omar ibn al-Khattab Mosque, saying that Qusayr had been declared a Shiite town. Is this a rational and responsible behavior? Why are they inciting although the report is false and baseless.”
“There is a group of mosques in the town of Qusayr and there are idiots who don't know that there are Shiites in Qusayr who have a neighborhood, homes and the Imam al-Hassan al-Mujtaba Mosque. The Hizbullah men hoisted the flag on this mosque, not on the Omar ibn al-Khattab Mosque, which is several kilometers away,” he clarified, announcing that Hizbullah will distribute a video showing what really happened on that day.
“The worst thing is to claim that the dispute is between sects, as it is rather between two projects. If someone wants to claim that the battle is sectarian through Takfir and killing, we will not change our stance,” he added.
Source: Naharnet
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