Nasrallah: Last Summer War Thwarted U.S. Plans for New Mideast
| “This war aimed to impose a new Middle East, broken up into confessional and ethnic mini-states, serving the interests of the United States and Israel,” Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast Saturday. “There is no new Middle East,” Nasrallah told an estimated 5,000 seated supporters in Bint Jbeil, one of the towns hardest hit by last summer’s war. “It’s gone with the wind.” Nasrallah did not personally attend the rally to mark the first anniversary of the war which Hizbullah calls “a divine victory. His speech was relayed to the crowd on a giant screen set up in the main square of Bint Jbeil. He said that “the American project was swept aside by the victory of the Islamic Resistance,” the armed wing of Hizbulllah. Nasrallah charged that the July-August war was the result of “a U.S. decision” and the United States provided Israel with “political and material support.” Nasrallah, who has been in hiding since the war sparked by Hizbullah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, said both Washington and Israel were counting their losses since the conflict. He said Hizbullah would never be at peace with Israel. “We will not wait for anyone to defend us. We will defend ourselves and our country,” he said. “We possess and we will continue to possess rockets that can hit any area in occupied Palestine if Israel attacks Lebanon,” he added. Hizbullah launched nearly 4,000 rockets at Israel during the 34-day war. “It is impossible to live with a back-stabbing enemy on our border, who has been assaulting us ever since it was born.” Another aim of the war, which cost more than 1,200 lives in Lebanon, mostly of civilians, according to Nasrallah, was to strengthen the government of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora. “The Israelis and Americans wanted the Saniora government to expand its authority to the whole of Lebanon’s territory to the detriment of the resistance, but that was another failure,” he said, gesticulating with his right hand to stress his points. Nasrallah added that Israel’s only hope for the return of its two captured soldiers was the release of Lebanese prisoners it held. “The only way is indirect negotiation which frees the Lebanese detained by Israel,” he said. Nasrallah renewed his call for a national unity government and dismissed allegations that his group is seeking to govern Lebanon or impose tyrannical rule over the country. Addressing Christians, Muslims and Druzes, he said: “We want Lebanon to be a nation for all (Lebanese), with all its religions and sects.” “Our utmost ambition is partnership … political partnership,” Nasrallah claimed. “Our utmost ambition is to be treated as normal Lebanese citizens and not as second-class citizens.” Lebanon has been plunged in a deep political crisis since mid-November when six pro-Syrian ministers, including five Shiites, stepped down from the Saniora government, demanding the formation of a new cabinet with greater representation.(Naharnet-AP-AFP) |
| Beirut, 29 Jul 07 |
