Former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi on Saturday lauded the positions of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi that lashed out at Hizbullah's possession of arms and its intervention in Syria's war.
“We praise the stances expressed by Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as for Hizbullah's weapons. His position represents the entire Lebanese who have faith in the State's sovereignty and who reject illegal arms,” Rifi's said.
He added that illegal weaponry has become “a tool for chaos used by Iran in the region in order to achieve its its expansionist ambitions ignoring the interests of Lebanon, its sovereignty, stability, and its Arab relations.”
In sn interview with Sky News Arabia, al-Rahi stated that Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war has divided and embarrassed the Lebanese between those supporting the move and others opposing it.
He also said that Hizbullah has engaged in the war despite the State's policy to dissociate itself from regional turmoil.
Since the war broke out in Syria, Hizbullah has deployed thousands of militants to fight alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces against Islamist-led rebels and jihadists and many Hizbullah members have been killed in Syria since the start of the conflict.
The party argues that its intervention, which is controversial in Lebanon, was necessary to protect the country from extremist groups and to prevent the fall of Syria into the hands of hostile forces.
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