Raad: Lebanese interior doesn't need resistance but rather dialogue and tolerance

Hezbollah’s top lawmaker Mohammed Raad has said that his party’s latest military drill was aimed at telling Israel that Lebanon’s presidential crisis will not divert Hezbollah’s attention from confronting Israel’s “aggression against our sovereignty.”

“Some said that this was addressed to the Lebanese interior, knowing that the Lebanese interior does not need resistance, but rather dialogue, understanding and the rhetoric of tolerance among the sons of the same country,” Raad added.

As for the presidency, the lawmaker said that Hezbollah “has the right to vote” for whomever it wants.

“We considered that there is a natural candidate who can be a bridge between us and our political rivals and between us and all other parties. He has his regional and international friendships and he has no rivalries with anyone, even with those who killed his family,” Raad added, referring to the candidate Suleiman Franjieh.

“We have decided to support our presidential candidate, not to impose him on anyone, and we're saying that we have chosen to back this man to be a president for us, you and all Lebanese,” the Hezbollah legislator said.

He added: “If you don’t like our candidate, tell us who your candidate is. At first he was a substitute for someone lost, and after 11 electoral session he stopped being your candidate, and now perhaps the blank ballot has become your candidate.”

“We’re awaiting them to agree on a candidate so that we speed up the presidential vote,” Raad went on to say.