Nasrallah: If We Wanted to Stage a Coup, We Would've Done So in 2005 or on Aug. 15, 2006

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday described reports "that Hizbullah wants to stage a coup d'état" as "false" and nothing but "empty claims."

"If we wanted to do so, we would've done that in 2005, but we don't want that … we would've taken over the country on August 15, 2006 if we wanted to, so these claims are unfounded," Nasrallah said.

On February 14, 2005, former premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive bombing in Beirut, the thing that led to massive political change in Lebanon and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country.

August 14, 2006, was the last day of the devastative war between Israel and Hizbullah that year.

Speaking via video link to a ceremony organized by the group's Jihad al-Binaa reconstruction department, Hizbullah number one stressed: "We all want the truth, we rather want true justice, and without the truth there won't be justice."

He slammed the "injustice" practiced "against Syria and the Four Generals throughout four years."

"I ask the Lebanese: Will the U.N.-backed probe make us reach the truth or will it make us reach deception, in addition to acquitting the murderer and criminalizing the friend and the brother?" Nasrallah addressed the Lebanese.

"Why are (Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Danielle) Bellemare and the U.N. insisting on protecting false witnesses, not to mention the domestic protection they used to enjoy? And why is Bellemare insisting on rejecting to hand over the false witnesses dossier to Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed?" added Nasrallah.

He noted that "procrastination in settling the false witnesses issue has been clear," adding that "the next cabinet session on Tuesday must settle this issue for the sake of the national interest."

"And when the case gets referred to the judiciary, we must make sure the judiciary doesn't delay it too."

Nasrallah said his party has "all the proofs that confirm that the U.N.-backed probe is politicized."

"We ask you to prove that it is a judicial and serious investigation, and we ask: who said that the upcoming (STL) indictment is not based on false witnesses?"

Nasrallah noted that the international community is "keeping Lebanon busy with the tribunal, Iran with sanctions, Syria with pressures, Sudan with problems as nobody knows anything about Egypt's fate."

"Amid the preoccupation of all Arab nations, the Israeli wants to impose conditions on the Palestinians," Nasrallah added, with reference to the faltering direct peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.

Hizbullah chief confirmed that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will tour the South during his upcoming visit to Lebanon, "but he won't hurl a stone at Israel as they are claiming."

"If President Ahmadinejad asks my opinion, I shall say: 'A stone? You are capable of throwing more than a stone,'" at Israel, Nasrallah added to applause.

"President Ahmadinejad is Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's guest and we have to be hospitable in welcoming him," said Nasrallah.

Nasrallah stressed that since "the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran, the (Islamic) republic has been supporting Lebanon, Palestine and the region, but the Arab governments have not even said Thank You."

"We're not forcing anyone to accept cooperation with Iran on the issue of equipping the army, and there's no need that you put conditions in the face of this donor state, while you used to accept conditions put by other donor states," Nasrallah addressed those in Lebanon who have reservations on military cooperation with Tehran.(Naharnet-AFP)