HEZBOLLAH’S deputy leader Shaykh Na’im Qasim said last Wednesday that his group had fought ‘with honour’ in Syria and had helped in the transfer of wounded Syrian rebels in accordance with the party’s religious beliefs.
‘We fought with honour because we were clear about our involvement in Syria and we did not use deception,’ Qasim said during a commemoration ceremony in Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to a statement from Hezbollah.
‘A lot of Arab and regional countries send arms and money and commit ugly acts with their tools then try to deny what they did,’ he added.
‘And this is what happened with some tools present in Lebanon,’ he said, apparently referring to the Future Movement.
‘As for us, we have fought with honour and we did not kill those fleeing the battles in adherence to our Islamic principles and religion, and we contributed in transferring the wounded in the battles although they were fighters because our religion commands us not to kill any wounded,’ he added.
Hezbollah has admitted to fighting alongside forces loyal to President Bashar Asad in Syria, claiming it is defending against a US-Israeli-Takfiri project targeting Damascus, which it regards as the ‘backbone’ of the resistance group.
The group’s involvement in Syria has been widely condemned.
Qasim, during the ceremony, also slammed former Prime Minister Sa’d Hariri, who heads the Future Movement, and accused him of implementing an American-Israeli plot in the region and inciting strife.
‘Sa’d Hariri is committing a mistake when he bases his political future in accordance with the American-Israeli plot and when he incites sectarian strife, when he refuses a national unity Cabinet and when he supports terrorists in Lebanon and Syria,’ he said.
The Hezbollah official also reiterated opposition to Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam’s suggestion of a 24-member Cabinet lineup, divided equally between figures acceptable to the March 8, March 14 and centrists.
‘We nominated . . . Salam to form a national unity Cabinet and his responsibility is to be fair in the formation and to form a Cabinet in line with national unanimity,’ Qassem said, adding that such a government could only be formed if ministerial portfolios are distributed according to the respective representation of parties in Parliament.
‘We are not a trivial group to accept a marginal share that does not influence Cabinet decisions and this is why the 8-8-8 Cabinet proposal is something we totally reject,’ he added.
Hezbollah has called for the formation of national unity Cabinet in which the March 8 coalition is granted veto power.
Salam has rejected such a demand and said that no political group will be granted a blocking third in his government. Salam is seeking a non-political government of ‘national interest’ that would see the rotation of ministerial portfolios between sects.
The Future Movement and Lebanese Forces, both leading parties in the March 14 alliance, have called for the formation of a neutral salvation Cabinet in which political partisans are excluded.
Meanwhile, a leader of Hamas, Mahmud Al-Zahhar stressed on Wednesday 19 June that the movement had good relations with Hezbollah, as well as with various elements in the Arab and Islamic world.
Al-Zahhar said he considered that ‘differences in opinions do not ruin relations,’ indicating that the movement’s branch in Gaza did not know anything about the statement claimed to be issued by Hamas over its relation with the resistance in Lebanon.
In parallel, the Hamas official stated that the movement’s relation with the Islamic Republic of Iran was ‘stable’ despite the internal changes in the Islamic Republic, and refuted media claims about an end in the relations between the two parts.
He said that none of the Iranian officials tackled such an issue, and ruled out that any changes would occur to Iran’s relation with Hamas and the resistance movements after Shaykh Hasan Rouhani’s election.
When asked about some Muslim scholars’ calls for ‘Jihad in Syria’, he just said: ‘Those Muslim scholars hold the responsibility of their calls.’
Regarding the Palestinian resistance movement’s stance from the Syrian crisis, Al-Zahhar assured Hamas’s neutral stance on this issue, as well as any internal issue in the Arab world, indicating that its only concern was fighting the Israeli occupation.
‘When the Liberation Organization interfered in internal Arab issues it lost and caused losses to the Palestinian cause and when it left Jordan and took part in the Beirut crisis during the 70s it lost power and abandoned resistance’ he added.
There is much comment in the Arab world that UK leader Cameron in the words of Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper ‘has started to lean towards scenarios he believes are creative and can constitute an alternative to the arming options.
‘The most prominent of these is to encourage the Syrian army to stage a coup d’etat that topples President Al-Assad and preserves the regime’s structures.
‘The British prime minister’s plan wants to avoid what happened in Iraq and Libya, that is, the creation of a political vacuum and another security one if the regime was brought down as this would be totally counterproductive.
‘He therefore wants the present efforts to concentrate on liquidating the hard-line jihadists groups and strengthening the moderate Syrian opposition under the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) leadership and then to hold a dialogue between the opposition and coup leaders to reach a political solution for the crisis.
Liquidating the jihadist groups, whether by the regime and its forces or by the FSA, is a very difficult and complicated process because these groups have deeply permeated the Syrian people’s political and social fabric and now include in their ranks thousands of Syrian youths in addition to some Islamist fighters from Arab and Islamic countries.
‘Having both Russia and the West give priority to liquidating the jihadist groups might prolong the war for years, especially in view of the increase in the number of these armed groups and the possibilities of modern weapons reaching them in one way or another.
‘We have some examples from what happened in Iraq. The hard-line Islamist organizations there are still present even though 10 years have passed since the occupation.
‘Britain tried the military coup scenario in Iraq to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and his regime and also tried to assassinate him.
‘But these attempts failed and the United States and the West had no choice but direct military intervention, the occupation of the country, the overthrow of the regime, and the execution of its head in a kangaroo court.
‘Will the chances of the British coupist plans in Syria will be better than those in Iraq?’
The newspaper asks the question but does not supply an answer.
Meanwhile in fact Assad and his allies including Hezbollah are winning the war.
Not only that, they are going over to the diplomatic offensive.
Syria has stressed its support for Argentina’s legitimate right of sovereignty over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, urging ‘a peaceful and proper solution’ to the issue of the sovereignty dispute over these Islands.
Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari made the remarks on Thursday during the meeting of the Special Committee formally known as the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
He stressed the importance of settling the dispute concerning sovereignty over these islands through peaceful negotiations, in accordance with the resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Special Committee on Decolonization (C 24).
Al-Jaafari called on Britain to implement the Committee resolution and conduct a serious dialogue with Argentina for resolving the dispute through peaceful means.
He also urged Britain to seriously deal with the Special Committee and inform it, periodically, of the actions taken by it for the implementation of the committee’s relevant resolutions.
Al-Jaafari said that the world’s remaining 16 non-self-governing territories after nearly 51 years of the establishment of the Special Committee is a matter that deserves to be reconsidered in its meanings and political connotations.
‘This matter pushes us to duplicate efforts to promote decolonization which constitutes a humanitarian crime that violates both the UN Charter and the declaration of decolonization.’
He pointed out that Syria rejects all unilateral measures carried out by Britain in the Malvinas Islands, which violate the relevant UN resolutions and undermine any effort to establish a constructive dialogue with Argentina.
Al-Jaafari clarified that 30 resolutions were adopted on Malvinas over the 31 years of the Committee’s consideration of this matter, but none of these resolutions have been implemented so far.
In turn, Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Héctor Marcos Timerman, stressed his country’s readiness for an immediate and unconditional resumption of negotiation and dialogue with Britain.
He criticized Britain’s ignorance of all resolutions of the General Assembly and Special Committee, which call on all parties to resume dialogue for a peaceful solution.
Also speaking were representatives of Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, China, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Peru Guatemala, Costa Rica and Brazil.
They confirmed their support for Argentina’s position regarding the Malvinas Islands issue, urging Britain to begin constructive negotiations with Argentina to resolve the matter peacefully and in accordance with the UN resolutions.
They also called for non-militarization of the region and stopping the unilateral measures which undermine the efforts of a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute over these Islands.
The Special Committee called on Britain and Argentina governments to support the dialogue and cooperate for the resumption of negotiations to reach a peaceful solution as soon as possible.