Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged for the first time that his powerful Shiite group was fighting across all of Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
And he called specifically on his fiercest critics in Lebanon to back his intervention across the border, warning that their support for Assad's opponents would not save them from jihadists.
"Today we are facing a kind of danger that is unprecedented in history, which targets humanity itself," Nasrallah said, speaking ahead of Monday's anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon in 2000.
"This is not a threat to the resistance in Lebanon on to one sect or to the regime in Syria or the government in Iraq or a group in Yemen," he added, addressing an audience in the southern town of Nabatiyeh in a telecast broadcast on a big screen.
"This is a danger to everyone. No one should bury their heads in the sand.
"We invite everyone in Lebanon and the region to take responsibility and confront this danger and end their silence and hesitation and neutrality."
The speech was a full-throated defence of Hezbollah's role in Syria, where it has acted as a key force multiplier for Assad's embattled regime since an uprising that began in March 2011.
The intervention has raised tensions in Lebanon, where many Sunnis back the uprising against Assad and accuse Hezbollah of drawing the country into Syria's war.
But Nasrallah has always framed Hezbollah's intervention as protecting Lebanon from the threat of extremism.
And on Sunday, he said the choice in Syria is between jihadists from IS and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, or the regime and its allies like Hezbollah.
Nasrallah dismissed the US-led coalition fighting against IS, saying the jihadists continued to move freely despite its air strikes.
He directed much of his speech to members of Lebanon's Future movement, which is fiercely opposed to Hezbollah and its role in Syria, warning they would be the "first victims of IS and Al-Nusra" if they arrive in Lebanon.
He also acknowledged for the first time that Hezbollah was fighting throughout all of Syria, and not just in areas near the border with Lebanon.
"We are fighting alongside our Syrian brothers, alongside the army and the people and the popular resistance in Damascus and Aleppo and Deir Ezzor and Qusayr and Hasakeh and Idlib," he said.
"We are present today in many places and we will be present in all the places in Syria that this battle requires.".....
AFP
TV5F.COM
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Sayyed Nasrallah: Resistance at Its Utmost Readiness on All Fronts...
ReplyDeleteHezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stresses that the resistance is at its utmost readiness on all fronts, noting that although Hezbollah is fighting in Syria, its eyes are still on Israel.
Speaking at a massive ceremony on the Resistance and Liberation Day, Sayyed Nasrallah urged for uniting all fronts in the Middle East to counter the Takfiri scheme, as he assured that this scheme threatens the entire region..............http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=211782&cid=23&fromval=1
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed Sunday to oust Islamist militants from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, and also to plow on with the offensive in the Qalamoun region until the Lebanese-Syrian border is secure...
ReplyDeleteNasrallah’s remarks, seen as a serious escalation of the Shiite party’s involvement in the 4-year-old war in Syria, immediately drew the wrath of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who stressed that defending Lebanon’s sovereignty and territories in Arsal or any other area was not the responsibility of Hezbollah.
The head of the Future Movement rejected Nasrallah’s televised speech marking the 15th anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon, saying it contained “accusations of treason, arrogance and a torrent of fallacies and threats.”
“We, in the Future Movement, declare publicly that the Lebanese state and its legitimate institutions are our guarantee, our choice and our salvation,” Hariri said in a statement released by his media office shortly after Nasrallah’s speech addressing hundreds of Hezbollah supporters assembled in the main square of the southern city of Nabatieh. “Any talk about other guarantees is illusory, is rejected and represents a futile engagement in suicidal projects.”
“Defending the land, sovereignty and dignity is not the responsibility of Hezbollah, neither in Arsal, nor in its outskirts, or in any other area. Our position on Daesh [ISIS] and the forces of deviation and terror does not need a certificate of good conduct from anyone,” Hariri added.
Rejecting Nasrallah’s call for popular mobilization in Lebanon and the region to fight ISIS, which has been making steady military advances in Syria and Iraq despite airstrikes launched by a U.S.-led global coalition on the extremist group, Hariri said: “The popular mobilization equation has no place in Lebanon. We will not cover any call for it under any circumstances.”......................http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/May-25/299197-nasrallah-vows-to-oust-jihadis-from-arsal-outskirts.ashx
24/5/15