Naharnet

Hizbullah Slams Jahliyeh Raid, Calls for Stability

A Hizbullah delegation on Monday offered condolences in the Chouf town of Jahliyeh over the death of ex-minister Wiam Wahhab’s bodyguard Mohammed Bou Diab.

Bou Diab died of his wounds after being injured in a confrontation between Wahhab’s supporters and an elite force from the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch. The force was seeking to arrest Wahhab or notify him of the need to appear before the Branch for interrogation.

“The martyr sacrificed his blood for the sake of the country and Mount Lebanon and in order to prevent strife,” senior Hizbullah official Mahmoud Qmati said in Jahliyeh.

He added that Bou Diab died to “prove that Mount Lebanon is the mountain of Arabism and the mountain of resistance.”

“Stability in Lebanon and Mount Lebanon is essential and a steady policy,” Qmati went on to say.

“We want Mount Lebanon to remain secure and we will not encourage any strife in Mount Lebanon or the country,” he added.

Criticizing Saturday’s raid, Qmati said: “What happened in Jahliyeh with the arrival of such a force in dozens of vehicles was not aimed at delivering a judicial notice and it could have led to strife and to a massive bloody massacre although this may have not been the intention of those behind it.”

Adding that the judiciary in Lebanon “should not become politicized,” the Hizbullah official said: “The axis of resistance has triumphed in the region but we in Lebanon do not act according to the principle of victors and losers but rather according to the principle of partnership.”

Qmati also called for a “transparent and honest probe” to identify “those who killed the martyr Mohammed Bou Diab,” while stressing that Hizbullah does not accept the manner in which Jahliyeh was “attacked.”

Wahhab had been summoned by the Intelligence Branch in connection with a lawsuit filed against him by a number of lawyers over insults he addressed to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and his slain father ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

The Chouf region had on Friday witnessed another standoff between supporters of Wahhab and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat after the ex-minister’s supporters took to the streets in armed convoys.


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