Lebanese national resistance movement Hezbollah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah has warned that the United States will drive Lebanon towards sedition if Lebanon does not conform with the US agenda.
Nasrallah said last Friday Lebanon’s main aim after the elections is achieving true sovereignty, freedom and independence.
He said those who plant bombs were seeking to create a rift among the Lebanese people.
He urged them not to settle accounts among each other and to deal with matters responsibly.
He explained that the next Lebanese government after the elections ought to demand compensation from the United States and the Israelis for the crimes they committed against the Lebanese.
Nasrallah said: ‘Today, it is an undisputed fact that the US ambassador (to Lebanon) interferes in everything.
‘I am not aware of a country where the US ambassador publicly visits – there are certainly many countries where he does so secretly – the current and previous governments, and certainly future governments, and visits the ministers one by one and discusses the affairs of their ministries, programmes and what they plan to do, and gives them advice.
‘Advice – how respectable of them.
‘So, the main demand for the Lebanese is that after the elections, are we going to elect the Speaker of our own will, independently of the red lines and the US vetoes, or what?
‘Shall we form our government out of our own will?
‘Shall we formulate the government’s political statement out of our own will?
‘Shall we heed the advice, recommendations, red lines, vetoes, green lights and red lights from this and that embassy?
‘This is the main question.
‘What I tell you is that this challenge requires courage, gallantry, honesty and dedication.
‘If each one of us thinks of his personal, sectarian or party gains, then the Americans will take us one by one and we will achieve what they want, which will be at the expense of our homeland, but we may be deceived or cheated into believing that we are achieving personal, party or sectarian gains.
‘The main question is if there will be true independence, true freedom and true sovereignty in Lebanon?
‘This is the challenge.
‘I want to tell you clearly more than this.
‘The US plan for Lebanon, and what happened and what is going on at present . . .
‘It is my habit to sound the alarm even if this is misinterpreted by some people.
‘If the country does not behave as they want within the framework of their priorities and agenda – as they say, although I don’t use this term – and within their arrangements, the Americans will lead this country to sedition.
‘They want sedition for the country.
‘I was hesitant, and up until very recently I was not planning to say this.
‘Even the security operations which took place in Lebanon, starting with the attempt to assassinate (MP) Marwan Hamadah, the assassination of martyr Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, the explosions which took place in the Christian areas alone and not in different areas in Lebanon, and the assassination of journalist Samir Qasir.
‘O Brothers and Sisters: Before making direct accusations with the political background, let us think a little bit.
‘Listen to me and then discuss the issue with me.
‘Those who are doing these things want to drive Lebanon to sedition.
‘They want to place the Lebanese before the sedition in order to impose all the conditions on them.
‘This requires precision.
‘At this stage, we should settle accounts of the narrow internal, sectarian or partisan political nature.
‘This stage requires dealing with it in a patriotic manner and with a big heart, broad mind and cool nerves.
‘The Americans do not have any objection at all. . . .
‘If a government of independence, sovereignty and freedom is formed in Lebanon after the elections, the simplest thing that this government should call for is the rightful compensation for Lebanon.
‘We demand compensation for Lebanon, for the state and the people, for all the crimes committed against our people and our country.
‘If the compensation is paid by the United States and Israel, we can repay our debts and tackle our economic problems as well.
‘Instead of reminding us of favours made through the conditional charitable and humiliating aid, we should ask them to give us our rights as the state, people and government.’
Meanwhile, delivering a Friday sermon, leading Lebanese cleric Sheikh Sayyid Fadlallah said: ‘In Lebanon we are facing a fresh threat to security with the assassination of the press through a crime that targeted one of its major figures (journalist Samir Qasir), after being faced with political assassination and bombings of economic and community sites.
‘This is raising much worry and consternation about the bats of the night and wolves of the day.
‘We call on our fellow countrymen: Let each citizen become a protector of security.
‘Let everyone be on guard against the criminals, whoever they may be, from home or from abroad.
‘Lebanon in its stability and openness breathes with the two lungs of security and freedom. We must preserve both of them.’
He continued: ‘As for the election scene, we want the Lebanese not to refashion the sectarian Lebanon.
‘Rather, let there remain in their consciousness the Lebanon of the citizen, where the person demands his rights and works to fulfil his duties on the basis of patriotism, not sectarianism.
‘We also want the Lebanese not to vote for an individual because of his personality, but to vote for the cause and the programme.
‘We want them to look to the Lebanon of the future and how to fashion it.
‘Let each of you study the background of the individuals, the extent of their submission to foreign tutelage and the extent to which they have fallen under the influence of political money that buys consciences and sells offices.’
Sheikh Fadlallah added: ‘The country is living with most of its people under the poverty line.
‘People are experiencing hunger, deprivation and loss.
‘At this time they are confronting the political anaesthesia that diverts them from their pains and hopes.’
