On the Verge of a Hezbollah State

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http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=16751

On the Verge of a Hezbollah State

16/05/2009

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat - The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, delivered a speech on Friday at a graduation ceremony in which he launched a strong attack on the March 14 Coalition and spoke about Hezbollah’s capabilities in running the Lebanese state.

“We must not forget May 7 so that no one would repeat the stupidity of May 5,” said Nasrallah, in reference to the day that the Lebanese government decided to dismantle Hezbollah’s communication network [May 5], which prompted the opposition under the leadership of Hezbollah to carry out a military operation against government loyalists in Beirut and in some mountainous regions [May 7].

Nasrallah stated that Hezbollah is able to run Lebanon because those who “defeated the strongest state and army in the region [i.e. the Israeli army] are capable of running a country that is 100 times stronger than Lebanon.”

The Hezbollah leader described May 7 as a “glorious day for the resistance in Lebanon,” and added, “The purpose of May 5 was to lead Beirut on to a sectarian war that would last for weeks and as a consequence, they would call in foreign troops under the pretext of civil war in Lebanon.” Furthermore, he added, “The scheme of the May 5 government was set for execution. If not then why did they stay up until morning to call Saudi Arabia and Egypt? I tell all the Lebanese, the Sunnis and the Shia in particular and our people in Beirut that what happened on May 7 had put a quick stop to a sectarian war and to the burning of Beirut and to a major conspiracy against the resistance.”

Nasrallah also claimed in his speech that there is nothing in Lebanon called a “judiciary.” He said, “We have honest judges and corrupt judges. What kind of judicial authority is that which punishes agents who spent decades collaborating [with Israel] and [on the other hand] detains senior officers for three years and eight months without any charge? Is this a just judiciary? We do not have a judiciary system, but rather we have judges. Some of them are even handed and some of them are not. We look forward to a strong and true judiciary authority that would rule with justice.”

On his part, Mohammad Raad, head of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc said, “We are positive the country has begun to move in a different direction, and that the opposition will win the majority of votes. All statistics indicate so. The competition over the remaining seats is way out of the majority’s league. The quota of the majority has now been won by the opposition. But there are extra seats that the opposition and government loyalists are still fighting for in order to widen the margin for the opposition.”