Nasrallah to Assange: We Contacted Syrian Opposition Urging Dialogue with Regime
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange interviewed Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday in the debut of his "The World Tomorrow" talk show on Russia's state-funded RT cable broadcaster.
Assange remains under house arrest and was speaking from his study in London to Nasrallah at his Lebanese office via a computer video link.
Nasrallah revealed that his party has contacted the Syrian opposition, urging them to engage in dialogue with Assad's regime, but they refused.
According to the English-language transcript of the interview published on RT’s website, Nasrallah told Assange that Hizbullah supports Syrian President Bashar Assad the same as Syria supported Hizbullah’s resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.
Nasrallah also said Assad “hasn't backed down in the face of Israeli and American pressure.”
Nasrallah noted that Assad’s regime “served the Palestinian cause very well.”
“This is the first time I say this – We contacted … the opposition to encourage them and to facilitate the process of dialogue with the regime. But they rejected dialogue,” he revealed.
“Right from the beginning we have had a regime that is willing to undergo reforms and prepared for dialogue. On the other side you have an opposition which is not prepared for dialogue and it is not prepared to accept reforms. All it wants is to bring down the regime. This is a problem.”
Nasrallah called for “balance” concerning the Syrian crisis, saying “armed groups in Syria have killed very many civilians” and accusing the international community of putting all the blame on the regime while turning a blind eye to acts committed by armed groups.
According to the interview’s transcript, Nasrallah told Assange al-Qaida wants to turn Syria into a battleground.
“There is fighting in Syria – when one party retreats, the other will advance, it will go on as long as doors to dialogue are shut,” he told Assange.
Stressing that Hizbullah supports dialogue, Nasrallah pointed out that without it, "civil war is the only alternative."
In his words "this is exactly what America and Israel want… Arab states are ready for tens of years of dialogue with Israel but won't have two months to try a political solution in Syria."
Nasrallah stressed that Israel is “an illegal state.”
“It was established on the basis of occupying the lands of others,” he said. “If I occupy your house by force it doesn't become mine in 50 or 100 years,” he added.
While “Hizbullah does not want to kill anyone,” the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is establishing a democratic state on Palestinian land where Muslims, Jews and Christians live in peace but the U.S. “won't let people listen to Hizbullah,” Nasrallah noted.
“Our priority is still the liberation of our land and the protection of Lebanon from the Israeli threat", he told Assange.
"Israel's hi-tech surveillance will never crack the code of the Lebanese resistance – they use local village dialects,” Nasrallah added.
The controversial founder of the whistle-blowing website admitted he was bound to face criticism for airing his show on an English-language channel that is funded by the Kremlin and openly promotes Moscow's view on global affairs.
Assange said in remarks released by RT that he expected to be called an "enemy combatant, traitor (for) getting into bed with the Kremlin and interviewing terrible radicals from around the world."
"But I think it's a pretty trivial kind of attack on character," he said in comments released on the RT website.
"If they actually look at how the show is made: we make it, we have complete editorial control, we believe that all media organizations have an angle, all media organizations have an issue."
The 12-episode weekly show is being produced by the Quick Roll Productions company that Assange set up after establishing fame with his site that leaked U.S. diplomatic dispatches.
Assange has been under house arrest for almost 500 days awaiting judgment from the Supreme Court in London on whether he can be extradited to Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault.
“Nasrallah is the first guest on Julian Assange's The World Tomorrow – one of the most anticipated news programs of 2012. The first-episode, with Nasrallah's identity kept secret until broadcast, coincides with the 500th day of financial blockade on WikiLeaks,” said RT on its website.
The 10-episode series features Assange in conversation with “iconoclasts, visionaries and power insiders,” it noted.
“The announcement that RT would host Assange's show created a global media stir, with many questioning the RT/Assange link-up. In a pre-show interview Assange explained his rationale.
“A lot of the things that we have been trying to report have not been carried accurately in the mainstream press. There are many, many fine exceptions, but when we look at international networks there’s really only two that are worth speaking about, and that’s RT and Al-Jazeera.”
17 April 2012, 16:38
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“served the Palestinian cause very well”
since the fifties scoundrels have used this same pretext to destabilize Lebanon and murder Lebanese... FIDAKI YA FILASTEEN!
17 April 2012, 17:46
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It's time for you to hang up your turban Nousralla. (shame on the days that a religions cleric backs evil and justifies murder etc...)
17 April 2012, 17:50
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fantastic, finally, two resistances, one voice. Israel will have kittens over this.
17 April 2012, 17:54
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fantastic, finally, two resistances, one voice. Israel will have kittens over this.
17 April 2012, 17:55
37
Cheap Assad rat I don't read other than the title, I know report contains same lies over and over. KGB old propaganda
17 April 2012, 18:06
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for the first time i feel the weakness of hassan,lying is an important sign of weakness,he never contacted the syrian "opposition" and they never ever have any contacts with the faqihi hassoun.....covering the farsi invasion to the region by using the palestinian problem argument is a shame.
N.B. the wahhabies are the same devil hassoun is.
BILAD EL ARZ IS PREVAILING NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!!
17 April 2012, 18:10
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Once again, the voice of logic and strategic thought resonates further than some can comprehend; I respect the opinions of those who disagree with Nasrallah (or anyone else, at that) provided that they found their opinions on objective bases. However, to read fairly subjective and shallow comments that do not ascend to the level of logic present throughout this interview, or to read comments that show how biased and misinformed the person placing them is, well this speaks volumes about these persons' level of ignorance...if it's not worth saying, chances are it's just not worth wasting our time reading.
17 April 2012, 20:50
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what strategic thought?? israel bombed syria in 2008, what was the syrian response? bomb 7ama, deir zoor, der3a, hums, idlib, zabadani, etc. in 2012! anyone with a grain of muslim faith should not defend the syrian regime really. The tanks that were never used against israel in 40 years are now being used against the syrian people!! the same 'america' hasan is cussing delivered iraq to the she3as and saved them from saddam, the same 'america' helped the libyan rebels whose revolution hasan has hailed, this is called HYPOCRISY not strategy. Hasan now is in bed with israel as they two want assad to survive. If israel was unhappy with assad he would have been bombed to oblivion a year ago. The same hasan with his 'strategic' thought never believed the syrian army would leave lebanon in 2005. The same hasan will be stunned when the syrian regime will ultimately fall.
19 April 2012, 00:49
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My dear "realist", I'm sorry to say that the magnitude of the chasm between your rhetoric and your namesake may qualify as "epic" in proportion.
Kind sir/miss, with all due respect, to mention several haphazard bits of disorganized personal opinions and adorn them with an excessive dollop of misinformation then to consider that the end-result of your "argument" may resemble any form of logic is misleading to yourself, first and foremost.
To tackle one of your "points" though: history has taught us that Israel cannot tolerate the existence of an able and capably armed state as its adjacent neighbor; thus, to argue that Israel is somehow preserving a Syrian regime armed to the back-teeth with WMD’s is pointless. Naturally, the U.S. and Israel are both on the same page here so any argument that the “U.S. is also preserving the Syrian regime and would have struck it down ages ago” – as some gentlemen so eloquently quoted on this page - is also without merit. The rest is child’s play.
19 April 2012, 15:40
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My dear Mowaten, it pains me to say this but the abundance of absurd remarks, blatant misconceptions and lack of objectivity throughout this forum is painstakingly obvious. If only most of the gentlemen in this forum would succumb to actual facts and aspire to the realm of strategic thought, I'm sure that many would change their tune. Oh, well...here's hoping that hatred dissolves and reason prevails, my friend.
17 April 2012, 19:58
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I mean seriously folks....for this pathetic creep to find a means to be heard through "Julian Assange" is truly pitiful.
17 April 2012, 20:12
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nasrollah:"While “Hizbullah does not want to kill anyone,” the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is establishing a democratic state on Palestinian land where Muslims, Jews and Christians live in peace but the U.S. “won't let people listen to Hizbullah,” Nasrallah noted." This guy are trying to bring democrasy and a democratic state in aisrael, as democratic as our IRAN.we Irnier have got too much democracy so that we are sick of it,s profuseness!
17 April 2012, 20:39
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The fact that he wants dialouge between the regime and the opposition means that he is really worried about the regime. If he really believed the regime can win he won't talk about any dialouges. Civil war in Syria ?? so be it, civil wars always lead to government collapse and a civil war in Syria will not play in the favor of the Alawites because demographics always prevail in such wars regardless how long it takes. I'm sure hasan knows best about long guerilla wars and what they would do to an occupation. All free countries went through civil wars from the US to france. Hasan's real nightmare is a democratic government in Syria where sunis have proper representation. We are just living the details, the end game is clear: hizbustan's days of hegemony are coming to an end.
18 April 2012, 04:05
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Your definition of hegemony is flawed if you say Hezbollah has "hegemony".
Your history is also flawed if you believe that the path to peace is civil war. Civil war obstructs the path to democracy. Most successful path to democratization involved peaceful transitions, fulfilled with dialogue by regime and opposition. Examples of this range across many waves of democratization, such as Southern Europe at the beginning of the century, Latin America in the 70s and 80s, and the postcommunist states. Civil war does not lead to free countries. This is a very strong statement you're making that could easily be debuked. Look at all countries that went through civil war (Sudan, Rwanda, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.), very rarely does it lead to peace.
As for your assesment that Hezbollah doesn't want Sunnis to have power, tell me, are Palestinians Sunnis or Shiites? And does Hezbollah not constantly support the Palestinian cause?
17 April 2012, 20:41
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well said, if israel was so unhappy with assad he would have been bombed to oblivion by nato last year and he would not have survived a week of attacks. HOw pathetic is the syrian regime really?? israel bombed deir zoor in 2008, what was the syrian response? bomb idlib, hums, der3a, 7ama..etc..
17 April 2012, 20:45
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You gotta admit, objectively, that this is not at all the hassan of the 90's..who dared say a word about him back then?? i too used to love him man, his popularity shrunk 90 percent ( the ten percent left are she3a and march 8ers), no one cares about this man in the arab world no more. He has no credibility left. If you are honest you would admit that fact.
17 April 2012, 21:04
11
“Right from the beginning we have had a regime that is willing to undergo reforms" sure it has Hassan, yeah Bashar has been promising reforms since 2000 and Hafez since 1973. Sorry my naive turbaned friend but the opposition's skepticism is understandable isn't it, they know as we do from experience it's a waste of time. The only reforms this regime knows is re-forming civilian habitations into rubble using mortars and rockets.
17 April 2012, 21:40
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Smooth-talking liar and criminal. Just because you can so eloquently utter your BS and justify mass murder by your master (statistically, compare how many people Israel kills per year to how many of his own people Assad has killed in the past 12 months), doesn't make mass murder just! And unfortunately for you, Nasr-el-Shaytan, we see how things are on the ground and not through fancy speeches on TV.
17 April 2012, 21:49
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oh! turbanman said many times that everything was under control in syria...
i guess he lied as usual! ROFL
17 April 2012, 22:19
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it's a question of time for bashar and ipso facto hassoun: what i hope from all lebanese nationalists not to forget that shia are still our partners in bilad el arz and LEBANON FIRST=LEBANESE FIRST AND ALL THE SECTS COMITTED MISTAKES.
17 April 2012, 22:35
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Assad senior served the Palestinian cause so well that he destroyed the Palestinian camps in the Lebanese war with the aid of Amal. Assad Jr has stood up so bravely to Israel that he has not fired a single bullet toward Israel while shelling Syrian cities. He stood with Lebanon so well in the resistance to occupation in the south while occupying the rest of the country. What a record!
18 April 2012, 00:10
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i can t believe that they are giving this terrorist air time. Who cares what he thinks or what he does , i can't believe that each time he gives an interview he undermines lebanon, he thinks he so important that he can single handedly resolve the syrian issue. btw syria served the palestinian cause, what about syria slaughtering it is own people and the lebanese people during the war, or there blood doesn't count.
18 April 2012, 04:08
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Hassoun also did you contact Bashar to find out why Ali(AL-JADEED Cameraman) was killed? Oh I forgot, Israel went to Wadi Khaled and assassinated him.
How about Nahr el Bared is a red line for the army not to enter, then AL-HAJJ gets assassinated after the clean up, Oh I forgot Israel infilterated the Army and choose AL-HAJJ and Eid(Who contacted your militia the day before). America and Israel also tried to assassinate Mustafa Jeha last week. You run a militia and have kidnapped the Shiite voice, time to lay down your weapons before it's too late.
18 April 2012, 04:13
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Have you not read what informed colomnists and journalists have wrote, e.g. Eric Margolis, a renown expert on Middle-Eastern affairs? Ayman al-Zawahiri explicitly called on his followers to join in the Syrian uprising. Sure the regime may have killed innocent civilians while carrying out military operations against armed groups, but to say that religious fundamentalists are no where near the uprising is quite far from reality.
Who do you think is carrying out the attacks on Syrian security forces?
Plus, many parties in the opposition WANT to dialogue with the regime, with the exception of the SNC, FSA and other armed groups. So when you say you support the opposition, who exactly are you referring to? For the opposition is fragmented, and each have a different path in confronting the regime. Do you support those that seek violent means towards peace, or those that seek dialogue?
18 April 2012, 10:20
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Funny how much crap we heard from march 8 media and supporters during the Egyptian uprising; 'haram el sha3b! look what Mubarak the butcher is doing!'
Where are you guys now? Why aren't you saying anything? Mubarak turned out to be a saint compared to bashar. It took al jadeed tv the life of one of its employees in order to speak up against the Syrians. Hypocrites.
Since I was a young child, I would continuously hear Lebanese and non-Lebanese claim that the Lebanese are hypocrites, that they are corrupt and are only interested in their own well being (masla7jiyyeh). After living in this cursed country all my life, travelling and working abroad, and coming back here, I noticed that yes, there is some truth to this claim, however, only for a specific group of like minded people, mainly the current march 8 supporters: ie. aounists, amal, hezbollah, ssnp, and the baath.
18 April 2012, 17:28
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Visitor, in case you didnt know, new tv has been criticizing the assad regime both before and after the revolution so in what way are they hypocrites? Even when march14 were meeting with assad and his regime, new tv were anti-baath regime so dont run off your mouth without first checking your facts.
18 April 2012, 06:34
01
lol one leaves his house he gets arrested, the other leaves his cave he gets his head blown off, whats the point?
18 April 2012, 07:01
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The dirtbag who sends snipers that fire on peaceful protesters expects the Syrian opposition to negotiate with him? Go back to your rat-hole.
18 April 2012, 07:10
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Good job for RT television the only TV not under the influence of zionists
Well done Putin
18 April 2012, 08:17
02
Very funny, a rat that is afraid to come out of his hole and a degenerate that they will not let come out of his house.... They speak so we must listen ;-)
Best quote “Hizbullah does not want to kill anyone,”
To bad Nasrallah was not asked to coment about some of the statements made by his associates in the wiki leaks files.
18 April 2012, 10:36
02
Freedom of expression is one of the first amendments of the united states constitution
So it should not be hindered in any case
God bless America and lebanon
18 April 2012, 12:37
02
It's a pitty that since fifty years we are still hearing the same mantra up until hassan came to us with the same story of israel being illigimate state and need to be exterminated by him. Let for once agree on that; but, why is Hassan still in hiding. why not be with the "Mujahidine" and if killed become the biggest martor ever in the history of this world. Are we kidding ourselves: he wants to have the cake and eat it all. He wants to dress nicely, wake up every morning eat the best of food and sleep all day and relax, and throw on us his mantra of Jihad. Israel is well served by him because as long as they have him preach this hatred, they will always have an alibi to remain in palestine and continue eating it piece-meal. They did this over the last 40 years.
18 April 2012, 15:23
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I salute u Mowaten for admiting these things about yourself! really admirable :)
