AMERICAN LEBANESE COORDINATION COUNCIL

Rice Says Hizbullah Part of ‘Belt of Extremism’

Posted in NEWS & ANALYSIS by Administrator on the April 30th, 2008
Palestinian Hamas militants are serving as the “proxy warriors” for an Iran bent on destroying Israel and destabilizing the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.
In a speech to the American Jewish Committee in Washington that underscored growing U.S. concerns about Tehran, Rice mentioned Iran as not just a threat in the Palestinian territories, but also in Lebanon, Iraq and even in Afghanistan. 

Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said after talks with Rice on Monday that an Iran-led radical front in the Middle East is becoming more powerful and weaknesses in it need to be found.

Rice vowed to pursue U.S. efforts to isolate Hamas which she said refused to renounce violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist and respect all previous Palestinian agreements with Israel.

“But perhaps of deepest concern, the leaders of Hamas are increasingly serving as the proxy warriors of an Iranian regime that is destabilizing the region, seeking a nuclear capability and proclaiming its desire to destroy Israel,” Rice told the group’s annual meeting.

Rice called for international support for the Palestinian Authority, which she said had “the will to fight terrorism” and “the desire to govern effectively” but did not yet have the means.

She echoed remarks by President George Bush who said Tuesday he was still hopeful of a Middle East peace deal before he left office in January but warned that Hamas could “undermine” the effort.

Rice also vowed that Washington would continue to tighten controls on Iran’s alleged misuse of the international financial system for terrorism and weapons proliferation.

The U.S. Treasury last October slapped sanctions on Iran’s elite Quds Force as well as the country’s Revolutionary Guards.

“We made designations for instance of the Quds Force, we made designations of the Revolutionary Guard,” Rice recalled. “You can believe that we’re going to continue to make designations.”

In her speech, Rice spoke of a new “belt of extremism” that ranges from Hamas, to Hizbullah in Lebanon to radicals in Iraq and “radicals even increasingly in places like Afghanistan.”

It is “supported overwhelmingly by Iran and to a certain extent Syria, but particularly Iran, gives this conflict a regional dimension it has not had before,” Rice said.(AFP)
 

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