Bkerki spokesman says al-Rahi doesn't consider Hezbollah 'terrorist'

The Maronite church’s official spokesman, Walid Ghayyad, has noted that “communication between Bkerki and Hezbollah is continuous,” following the latest uproar over recent remarks by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“Had the patriarch considered Hezbollah terrorist, he would have ceased communication with it because he does not talk to terrorists,” Ghayyad told al-Jadeed television.

“There is no intention to target Hezbollah nor to call it terrorist, and the patriarch was not referring to Hezbollah nor to the resistance in the south,” Ghayyad added, noting that Bkerki appreciates “all the sacrifices” of Hezbollah’s fighters against Israel.

“The victories it has achieved were rightful and we salute all the martyrs who are falling in the south,” Ghayyad went on to say.

He also revealed that foreign ambassadors had asked the patriarch to “describe Hezbollah as terrorist and he categorically rejected that, stressing that Hezbollah is a Lebanese party.”

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad had on Sunday described clarifications by Father Abdo Abou Kassm and MP Farid al-Khazen as “positive steps,” but he called for “additional steps” and a clarification from al-Rahi himself.

“Hezbollah sent a message to Bkerki that the resistance was very irritated over the stance that was voiced and that what happened hurt us to the core,” Fayyad said.

“The term terrorism is a rhetoric of conflict and confrontation and a rhetoric of political disagreement,” the MP added.

Al-Rahi’s remarks had prompted Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy head Sheikh Ali al-Khatib to boycott a Bkerki spiritual and political summit attended by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

In his Sunday Mass sermon on June 23, al-Rahi had called for “implementing U.N. resolutions, especially Resolution 1559 that is related to disarming (Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups in Lebanon), and Resolution 1701 which stands for keeping the south neutral.”

He added that “Lebanon should no longer be a launchpad for terrorist actions that undermine the region’s security and stability.”