Nasrallah says ready for dialogue, accuses rivals anew of seeking civil war

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday said that his party is ready for dialogue with others over the presidential file, as he slammed political rivals for rejecting French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian’s latest call for dialogue.

“Had the envoy been American, would you have rejected his letter?” Nasrallah said in a speech marking the sixth anniversary of the ouster of jihadist groups from the eastern border region.

He was referring to a letter recently sent by Le Drian to parliamentary blocs regarding the presidential file.

“Because we have logic and reason and because we are not weak or followers of anyone, we do not fear dialogue and we are ready for dialogue, although we are not begging for it,” Nasrallah added.

“They want to block quorum and they want a president who would confront Hezbollah instead of rescuing state institutions,” Nasrallah charged, while again accusing rivals of pushing for civil war.

“You are serving Israel's declared objective regarding Hezbollah's disarmament,” he added.

As for Hezbollah’s ongoing dialogue with the Free Patriotic Movement, Nasrallah described it as “the only open dialogue in the country which can be relied on.”

“Our answers have become ready regarding the presidential priorities that the FPM has proposed and we are in a serious and profound dialogue that needs some time,” he revealed.

“The issue of administrative and financial decentralization has been proposed to us and if we agree on a certain draft, we will be concerned with discussing it with the parties,” Nasrallah said.

Separately, Hezbollah’s leader warned that “any Israeli assassination on Lebanese soil will have a powerful response.”

“We won’t allow that Lebanon be once again an arena for assassinations,” he pledged.

As for the issue of the annual extension of UNIFIL’s mandate, Nasrallah said the U.N. Security Council is “not seeing the Israeli violations in Lebanon and the new occupation in Ghajar.”

“The Americans want the South to be devoid of any defense capabilities. They want UNIFIL to be spies for Israel,” he charged.

“Why is UNIFIL only present in Lebanon? Why is there no UNIFIL in northern Israel?” Nasrallah wondered, while noting that the Lebanese government is “trying to correct last year’s mistake” regarding the UNIFIL mandate resolution. That resolution had granted UNIFIL forces the right to move in south Lebanon without coordination with the Lebanese Army.