Naharnet

Nasrallah: Hizbullah Not Seeking War, Doesn't Want Sovereign Ministerial Portfolio

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced Friday that his group is not seeking a new war with Israel and denied reports that it wants a so-called sovereign ministerial portfolio in the new government.

“We are not seeking war but we do not fear it and I'm confident of victory in any upcoming war,” Nasrallah said in a televised address marking Lebanon's Resistance and Liberation Day.

Commenting on the latest wave of sanctions against his group, Nasrallah said: “The U.S. and Saudi sanctions against me and my brothers do not have material effect, seeing as we don't have money in banks, but the aim is to scare people of meeting with us.”

“Placing some names and firms on terrorism lists harms some people and businessmen and the Lebanese state must protect the interests of these people because they are Lebanese citizens,” he added.

“This is a U.S.-Israeli course and the Gulf states are taking part in it and this issue needs a discussion seeing as the state and the government are responsible for these Lebanese,” Nasrallah went on to say.

He said the objectives behind the sanctions are “putting pressure on the resistance's social incubator, scaring the allies and pushing them away from the resistance, and also drying up the resistance's funding sources.”

“They've been seeking this since the 1990s to no avail,” Nasrallah noted.

Turning to the issue of the formation of a new government in Lebanon, Hizbullah's leader emphasized that his group is not “rushing up” the formation process because it is “scared” of regional developments.

“We are calling for a speedy government formation because this is in the country's interest and because there are major files that need to be addressed and the all the developments in the region are in our favor,” Nasrallah added.

He also underlined that Hizbullah does not want any of the so-called sovereign ministerial portfolios – defense, foreign affairs, finance and interior.

Moreover, Nasrallah reveaed that Hizbullah has appointed MP Hassan Fadlallah as its pointman for the file of combating corruption.


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