Raad meets Aoun, says state must perform 'duties' before discussing arms

A delegation from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc held meetings Monday with President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri.

“We exchanged viewpoints in general about the priorities and challenges facing our country, topped by preserving national sovereignty, ending Israeli occupation, and halting the hostility and violations that are unfortunately sponsored and backed by some countries that are sponsors of the ceasefire agreement,” Raad said after the meeting with Aoun.

He added that the talks also tackled “rebuilding what was destroyed by the (Israeli) aggression, preserving stability and activating state institutions through electoral junctures, such as the latest municipal and mayoral elections.”

“The space of understanding between us and the president is broad and can be counted on, and we do not find ourselves bound by a timing, places, tools or methods to fill this space, as long as things in Lebanon are moving forward with care and keenness from the president on achieving the priorities that I first mentioned,” Raad said.

Hitting out at Prime Minister Nawaf Salam for recently omitting the word ‘Resistance’ from the official name of the ‘Resistance and Liberation Day’ holiday in one of his statements, Raad said: “We insist that this holiday is the Resistance and Liberation Day and not only Liberation Day, because the liberation was achieved by the resistance.”

Asked whether the visit had “opened the door for bilateral dialogue between the president and Hezbollah over monopolizing arms in the hands of the state,” Raad responded: “There are no closed doors in the way of exchanging discussions and ideas with the president on any level … The doors have been open since the presidential election and will remain open to everything that can achieve sovereignty and preserve stability and the rights of all individuals and essential components of this country.”

As for the issue of arms, the Hezbollah lawmaker said: “The state can have no privileges without committing to its duties. When the two become equal -- duties and commitments -- an agreement would take place.”

Asked about Salam’s remarks that “the era of exporting the Iranian revolution has ended” and that the state “will not remain silent over any arms outside the state’s control,” Raad said: “I don’t want to comment on this statement in order to preserve what’s left of cordiality.”