HEZBOLLAH MP Hassan Fadlallah on Friday condemned the sending of a US warship, the USS Cole to the eastern Mediterranean.
He said Hezbollah would not give in to threats.
Fadlallah told reporters: ‘It is clear this threat and intimidation will not affect us.
‘The American move threatens the stability of Lebanon and the region and it is an attempt to spark tension.
‘The American administration has used the policy of sending warships to support its allies in Lebanon before, and that experiment failed and backfired.
‘We don’t succumb to threats and military intimidation practised by the United States to implement its hegemony over Lebanon.’
Lebanese opposition MP, Dr Isma’il Sukkariyah, a deputy of the Loyalty for the Resistance Bloc said: ‘The presence of the US warship USS Cole off the Lebanese shores is one aspect of US pressure on Lebanon in order to impose a solution in favour of the US-backed 14 March governing group.
‘It also aims to put pressure on Syria through Lebanon in order to impose Annapolis-like solutions that led Israel to kill and slaughter Palestinians and to build more settlements.
‘In short, the presence of the USS Cole warship is one of the ugly aspects of US pressure and threats against the whole region, starting from Iran through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, of course.’
He stressed: ‘Certainly, it is a message which aims to put pressure on Syria and Iran because they are opposed to the imposing of US-Israel solutions and consequently the message is sent to both Iran and Syria and also to the Lebanese resistance.
On developments inside Lebanon, Sukkariyah commented: ‘It will complicate the situation because the ruling group in Lebanon always banks on US support.
‘In one of his statements, President Bush viewed Fu’ad al-Siniora’s government as part of US national security.
‘Consequently, this group will wrongly bank further on US support and will continue to reject opposition’s basic demand to take part in government.
‘This will complicate the situation further.’
The MP warned: ‘The opposition will not remain silent because the dispatch of the warship is a clear hostile action.
‘We must confront this aggression in a way which the opposition leaderships see appropriate.’
The United States on Thursday sped its USS Cole warship to Lebanon in what US officials claimed was a signal aimed at bolstering ‘regional stability’.
A top official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer off the coast of Lebanon, but declined to say if the show of force was meant for Syria or Iran, both considered foes by Washington.
It is ‘a show of support for regional stability’ because of ‘concern about the situation in Lebanon’, the official said.
The USS Cole was the target of a bombing by Al-Qaeda that killed 17 US sailors in October 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, declined to pin the warship’s presence to Lebanon’s presidential election vote, which on Tuesday was postponed until March 11 for the 15th time since September.
‘To say it is absolutely tied would be incorrect, although certainly we are aware elections are due there at some point in time,’ Mullen said.
‘The presence is important; it isn’t meant to send any stronger signals than that, but in fact it does signal that we are engaged,’ he admitted.
The signal ‘is not specifically sent to any one country as much as it is to the region itself’.
He added: ‘That’s a very important part of the world and stability there is an important outcome for us.’
A Pentagon spokeswoman said that the USS Cole was currently in the eastern Mediterranean, but gave no further details on its location.
Asked whether US President George W Bush had given the order, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: ‘The president is concerned about the situation in Lebanon and discusses the issue regularly with his national security team.’
Lebanon’s presidential vacuum has entered its fourth month with no resolution in sight, fuelling fears that a deepening sectarian rift could stoke civil strife.
Arab leaders have stepped up efforts to bridge the divide between the ruling coalition and the opposition, but analysts said they do not hold out much hope of a deal ahead of an Arab summit next month.
Recent street clashes between supporters of rival factions have further raised tensions and prompted several Gulf nations and Western states to advise their citizens against travelling to Lebanon.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal even declared earlier this month that the country was ‘on the verge of civil war’.
Adding to the tension, Hezbollah top commander Imad Mughnieh was assassinated on February 12 in Damascus in an operation widely blamed on Israel.
Although Tel Aviv denied officially any involvement, local media outlets boasted of the killing.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mu’allim has said that the key to solving the Lebanese presidential elections crisis is not in the hands of Syria, asserting that this is a Lebanese domestic affair.
During a visit to the Qatari capital, Doha, the Syrian minister reacted strongly to this latest intervention into the ‘Arab arena’ by US imperialism.
Echoing Hassan Fadlallah’s defiant response, he denied that the move to send a warship would succeed in putting pressure on his country, even if sanctioned by other Arab leaders.
In a recording aired on Al-Jazeera TV on Thursday, Al-Mu’allim said: ‘We do not give in to pressures, no matter what they are, even from the Arabs.
‘I denounce the fact that an Arab might apply pressure on another Arab.
‘However, what is taking place in fact is that there are Arabs who are inciting foreigners against Syria.
‘They visit countries to incite against Syria and call for continuing to apply pressure on it in order to carry out the agendas, which the United States wants, by Arab hands. Regrettably, this is what is taking place.’
Al-Mu’allim also confirmed that the Arab summit will be held in Damascus on time, stressing the need for Arab unity in the face of the present developments in the region.
Answering a question on hints that the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt might not attend the summit, Al-Mu’allim said that some Arab leaders did not attend previous summits.
‘On average, between 12 and 14 Arab presidents or kings attend Arab summits. Not all summits are attended by everybody,’ Al-Mu’allim explained.
‘If we look at the summits that were held in Khartoum, Tunisia, and Algeria, we find that some countries did not attend, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Nevertheless, these summits were held.
‘This summit will be held upon a decision that was taken during the 2007 Riyadh summit, and I believe that all Arab leaders and officials should respect their decisions.’
Lebanon has been without a president since November 24, when Damascus protege Emile Lahoud stepped down in the midst of the worst political crisis since the countrys 1975-1990 civil war.
The tensions in Lebanon have been exacerbated further by US imperialism’s demand for an international tribunal to try the assassins of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who was close to Saudi Arabia.
Washington blamed Syria for the February 2005 killing of Hariri in a massive Beirut car bombing, but Damascus has consistently denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, as tensions continue, the Lebanese National News Agency website last Wednesday reported: ‘A bomb went off this evening in the township of Al-Shiyabiyah near Tyre, wounding four citizens.
‘Muhammad Salman, the only one who was identified out of the four wounded citizens, was taken to Jabal Amil Hospital in Tyre.’
