Bluezoo
04-20-2005, 11:43 AM
Hizbollah Chief Vows Not To Disarm Guerrillas
By PAUL HOLMES and NADIM LADKI, REUTERS, BEIRUT
The leader of Lebanon’s Hizbollah group on April 19 called a U.N. Security Council demand to disarm “meaningless” said his guerrillas would keep their weapons as long as Israel posed a threat to the country.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, in a rare interview with an international news organization, said the Syrian-backed movement was recognized as a legitimate resistance group by Lebanese and was not a militia as described in the U.S.-sponsored resolution.
"That article has no meaning," Nasrallah said in the interview, which followed the formation of a new government to take Lebanon to a parliamentary election set for May.
"I say clearly, there are two reasons for the resistance: occupied land and the threat of aggression. When the threat of aggression ceases to exist and there is no occupied land, there is no reason for resistance," Nasrallah told Reuters.
The Shi’ite Muslim movement was ready to discuss disarmament with other Lebanese players, Nasrallah said, but he rejected the resolution as foreign interference inspired by Israel to strip Hizbollah of its weapons "so it can do whatever it wants".
U.N. Resolution 1559, sponsored by the United States and France, called last Sept. 2 for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and "for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia".
The focus on Hizbollah’s arms is likely to grow after Syria agreed under international pressure following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri to end its 29-year-old military presence by April 30.
Washington calls Hizbollah as a terrorist group and U.S. President George W. Bush said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that it had to be disarmed.
"You can’t have a free country if a group of people are like an armed militia," Bush told Lebanese broadcaster LBC.
He said Hizbollah, which is also backed by Iran, was trying not only to destabilize the Israeli-Palestinian peace process but "to impose their will on a free society".
Syria reiterated its backing for Hizbollah on Tuesday when its departing military and intelligence chiefs met Nasrallah.
"No matter how severe the trials get, nothing divides Syria and Lebanon and Syria and the resistance," Syria’s security chief in Lebanon, Rustum Ghazaleh, said after the meeting.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the formation of a government on Tuesday to take Lebanon to a parliamentary election due by the end of May after seven weeks of deadlock since Hariri’s killing, which many Lebanese blame on Syria.
Nasrallah welcomed the government move, saying it would help Lebanon resolve its political crisis, but he would not be drawn on whether the election should go ahead on time, saying only that it should take place "as soon as possible". Hizbollah is the largest single political force in Lebanon but has never joined a government.
It was the only group to keep its arms after the 1975-1990 civil war and played a central role in fighting the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000.
Nasrallah has vowed to keep fighting as long as Israel remains in the Shebaa Farms area, a sliver of land on the border with Israel and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Lebanon says Shebaa Farms is Lebanese land, while the United Nations describes it as Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.
Nasrallah said Israeli air force planes regularly violated Lebanese airspace and questioned whether the world would do anything to stop Israel if it decided to attack Lebanon.
"We appreciate the role of the United Nations but not all U.N. resolutions are just," Nasrallah said. "The whole world knows that the Security Council has double standards."
Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition, made up mainly of Christians, Druze and some Sunni Muslims, is divided over how hard to press Hizbollah to disarm. ....
For the full article, please go to:
http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=795638&C=mideast
By PAUL HOLMES and NADIM LADKI, REUTERS, BEIRUT
The leader of Lebanon’s Hizbollah group on April 19 called a U.N. Security Council demand to disarm “meaningless” said his guerrillas would keep their weapons as long as Israel posed a threat to the country.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, in a rare interview with an international news organization, said the Syrian-backed movement was recognized as a legitimate resistance group by Lebanese and was not a militia as described in the U.S.-sponsored resolution.
"That article has no meaning," Nasrallah said in the interview, which followed the formation of a new government to take Lebanon to a parliamentary election set for May.
"I say clearly, there are two reasons for the resistance: occupied land and the threat of aggression. When the threat of aggression ceases to exist and there is no occupied land, there is no reason for resistance," Nasrallah told Reuters.
The Shi’ite Muslim movement was ready to discuss disarmament with other Lebanese players, Nasrallah said, but he rejected the resolution as foreign interference inspired by Israel to strip Hizbollah of its weapons "so it can do whatever it wants".
U.N. Resolution 1559, sponsored by the United States and France, called last Sept. 2 for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and "for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia".
The focus on Hizbollah’s arms is likely to grow after Syria agreed under international pressure following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri to end its 29-year-old military presence by April 30.
Washington calls Hizbollah as a terrorist group and U.S. President George W. Bush said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that it had to be disarmed.
"You can’t have a free country if a group of people are like an armed militia," Bush told Lebanese broadcaster LBC.
He said Hizbollah, which is also backed by Iran, was trying not only to destabilize the Israeli-Palestinian peace process but "to impose their will on a free society".
Syria reiterated its backing for Hizbollah on Tuesday when its departing military and intelligence chiefs met Nasrallah.
"No matter how severe the trials get, nothing divides Syria and Lebanon and Syria and the resistance," Syria’s security chief in Lebanon, Rustum Ghazaleh, said after the meeting.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the formation of a government on Tuesday to take Lebanon to a parliamentary election due by the end of May after seven weeks of deadlock since Hariri’s killing, which many Lebanese blame on Syria.
Nasrallah welcomed the government move, saying it would help Lebanon resolve its political crisis, but he would not be drawn on whether the election should go ahead on time, saying only that it should take place "as soon as possible". Hizbollah is the largest single political force in Lebanon but has never joined a government.
It was the only group to keep its arms after the 1975-1990 civil war and played a central role in fighting the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000.
Nasrallah has vowed to keep fighting as long as Israel remains in the Shebaa Farms area, a sliver of land on the border with Israel and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Lebanon says Shebaa Farms is Lebanese land, while the United Nations describes it as Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.
Nasrallah said Israeli air force planes regularly violated Lebanese airspace and questioned whether the world would do anything to stop Israel if it decided to attack Lebanon.
"We appreciate the role of the United Nations but not all U.N. resolutions are just," Nasrallah said. "The whole world knows that the Security Council has double standards."
Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition, made up mainly of Christians, Druze and some Sunni Muslims, is divided over how hard to press Hizbollah to disarm. ....
For the full article, please go to:
http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=795638&C=mideast