Posted on 05/08/2008 8:52:53 AM PDT by Pyro7480
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the Lebanese government had declared war on his Shiite militant group by declaring its private telecommunications network an illegal threat to state security.
Nasrallah vowed to fight any attempts to disarm Hezbollah in a speech that hiked tensions already running high after a long-simmering political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the government erupted into sectarian violence.
"Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them," he said. "Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."
Celebratory gunfire rang out in Beirut as Nasrallah spoke live on television by videolink from a hiding place. The Hezbollah leader rarely appears in public for fear of assassination by Israel.
Lebanon's U.S.-backed government also said Tuesday that it would dismiss the security chief of the country's only international airport because he was suspected of ties to Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.
Those decisions sparked sectarian clashes between supporters of Hezbollah and the government over the past two days. The violence emerged out of a long-simmering power struggle between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the Western-backed government for control of the country.
"The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war ... on the resistance and its weapons in the interest of America and Israel," Nasrallah said.
He offered a way out of the latest crisis, saying the "illegitimate" government must revoke its decisions against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah runs its own secure network of primitive private land lines. Nasrallah claimed the network helped the guerrillas fight Israel's high-tech army in the 2006 summer war.
He said the telecommunications network was "the most important part of the weapons of the resistance" and added Hezbollah had a duty to defend those weapons.
He and other Hezbollah leaders have suggested they are regularly targeted by Israel and they need secure communications.
"I am not declaring war. I am declaring a decision of self-defense," he said. The government has "crossed all the red lines. We will not be lenient with anyone."
He said Maj. Gen. Wafiq Shukeir, the airport security chief that the government decided to remove, will stay in his post, rejecting any replacement.
The government's decision to replace him came after pro-government leader Walid Jumblatt alleged Hezbollah had set up cameras near the airport — which is located in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut — to monitor the movement of anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians and foreign dignitaries. Jumblatt suggested Hezbollah was planning to bomb aircraft to assassinate such figures.
Nasrallah rejected accusations by pro-government groups that Hezbollah was bent on staging a coup.
Could this be the kickoff for the main event?
Interesting...PING!!
ping
"The hand raised against us, we will cut it off." "
What the hell kind of obsession do these guys have with cutting off body parts?? It's all they ever talk about it seems like...
One can only hope. Time for W to embark on a Mideast Farewell Tour.
Just
Kill
them
all
hizb’allah is a seething plague of cockroaches that needs to be exterminated quickly and completely. They have poisoned the once-beautiful land of Lebanon, in some ways irretrievably. I wish Israel had wiped them all out in ‘06.
If you want to see the full horror of what this gang has done to Lebanon, read Brigitte Gabriel’s book, “Because They Hate”. She is a friend, and she if fighting tirelessly to see that this country does not end up like Lebanon.
Probably because the men are missing a key part.
What is it with these spineless worthless terrorist running their private wars from a hiding place. This must be the norm of an enemy that has no reason to be angry and just wants to read his name in print. It’s time the world devoted it’s full attention to flushing these rebel rousers out of their spider holes and exterminate them one by one at all costs.
France created Lebanon and Syria, a geographical split intended to separate Christians in Lebanon from Moslems in Syria.
I would have to argue that, they sure seem to be able to breed little bombers just fine...
Your point?
Yes
It sure seems like its getting close.
I agree just annihilate then. Im sick of these barbarians. You cant reason with a foaming at the mouth brainwashed delusional zealot.Death to islam.
then=them
Typos......
ping
FWIW - CNN had a live report within the last hour or so from Beirut and there was a rather intense gunfight going on. Automatic weapons and RPGs being used
I’m sure their plenty of tires being burned. You can’t have muslims fighting unless they are burning piles of tires as well. It’s their trademark.
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