Nasrallah Says Pompeo Visit Aimed at 'Inciting Lebanese against Each Other'
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday dissected the statement that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recited during his visit to Lebanon, saying the U.S. official's main objective was to “incite the Lebanese against each other.”
“There is no problem in any additional sanctions,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech dedicated to commenting to Pompeo's visit and U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of the Golan Heights as being part of Israel.
“I believe that we have largely overcome the threat emanating from Pompeo's visit,” Nasrallah added, citing unresponsiveness in Lebanon to the U.S. official's calls for rising up against Hizbullah.
“We should not allow 'great satans' or 'little satans' to manipulate our situations or spark a civil war,” Nasrallah added, warning that “Washington's eye is on a civil war in Lebanon.”
“As Lebanese, we are asked to preserve our civil peace and calm,” Nasrallah urged.
Nasrallah also thanked all “political forces, figures, journalists and youths” who “expressed their rejection of Pompeo's visit.”
“I thank President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri for what they said to the 'foreign minister of the Great Satan,'” Hizbullah's leader added, in a jab at Pompeo and the United States.
Nasrallah also noted that “the unity of the Lebanese stance, the golden equation and the resistance's capabilities are what preventing Israel from waging a war,” while pointing out that “Pompeo did not say during closed-door discussions that Israel would wage a war.”
“They believe that Iran and Hizbullah are an obstacle in the way of the 'deal of the century',” Nasrallah said, referring to the Americans and their plans for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Blasting remarks on Iran in Pompeo's statement, Hizbullah's leader said: “We liberated our land with Iranian arms from the Zionist occupation that is backed by you.”
“How are Qassim Suleiman and Iran undermining Lebanon's stability?” he added, in response to Pompeo's remarks.
“His problem with us is that we were among those who fought the U.S. scheme in Syria,” he added, referring to the top U.S. diplomat's remarks on Hizbullah's role in Syria.
“All the achievements of the resistance were disregarded by Mr. Pompeo. You would not have come to Lebanon had it not been for Hizbullah,” Nasrallah said, suggesting that Lebanon's political significance stems from Hizbullah's presence in it.
“It is not true that the U.S. wants the return of the refugees,” Nasrallah charged.
“Pompeo's main objective was to incite the Lebanese against each other. He wants us to the shed the blood of each other,” he warned.
In another jab at Washington, Nasrallah said “the biggest criminal and terrorist in this world” is saying that Hizbullah is “criminal and terrorist.”
“We are the keenest people on stability, domestic peace and prosperity,” Nasrallah underlined.
He added: “We are a key part of the peace and stability equation in Lebanon. Are we undermining domestic peace, stability and prosperity? Is the call for fighting corruption a move against prosperity in Lebanon?”
“Lebanon is enjoying peace and security and Israel carries out a lot of calculations before aggressing against Lebanon due to the missiles of the resistance,” Nasrallah went on to say, in response to Pompeo's remarks on the group's huge arsenal of missiles.
Also addressing Pompeo, Nasrallah said: “Where is Hizbullah spreading destruction? The U.S. is the one spreading destruction in the region.”
Nasrallah also accused the United States of “preventing the return of Syrian and Palestinian refugees to their country.”
As for Pompeo's statement that “Hizbullah stands in the way of the Lebanese people’s dreams,” Nasrallah noted that the Lebanese people are “dreaming of a corruption-free state.”
“The Lebanese people are dreaming to liberate their occupied land, they want to maintain peace and stability,” he added.
“Is it true that Hizbullah is Lebanon's only problem?” Nasrallah asked, noting that Pompeo “did not mention Israel, which violates Lebanon's sovereignty every day.”
Hizbullah's leader, however, called for “caution” after Pompeo's visit, noting that the U.S. is “fighting Israel's battle in the region, and Lebanon is one of the arenas.”
As for Trump's decision on the Golan, Nasrallah called on the Arab League to announce an end to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative during an upcoming summit in Tunisia, noting that Arabs should have taken this stance when the U.S. president made a similar move on Jerusalem.
Source: Naharnet
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