Nasrallah threatens Lebanese, Western rivals
Hezbollah leader threatens to 'cut off hand' of anyone aiming to detain group members
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened his opposition in Lebanon and the International Court of Justice in The Hague Thursday, claiming Israel was behind attempts to charge his group for assassinating Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Nasrallah also issued a veiled threat against current Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and accused him of assisting the US in hurting Hezbollah
In a televised speech in honor of the so-called Martyr Day and with rising tensions ahead of the completion of a UN investigation in the backdrop, Nasrallah stressed that 'Those who imagine that we will allow the arrest or detention of any of our fighters are mistaken."
"We will cut off the hand that reaches out for any one of them. Those who think that the resistance will not defend itself and its dignity against any accusation are mistaken," he said.
Nasrallah went on to explain the alleged connection between the international community's attitude towards his organization and Israel.
"Since our great victory in 2000, a new chapter of attempts to hurt the resistance has begun. We must listen to Silvan (Likud's Silvan Shalom) who said that presenting indictments in the International Court will lead to the implementation of decision 1559 (the decision by the UN Security Council to disarm Hezbollah received after the Second Lebanon War).
"That chapter is over, and then a new era, the era of the murder of the martyr Rafik Hariri which shook the nation began", Nasrallah said. "The whole world pressed Syria to withdraw from Lebanon and she did so. They tried to entice us with the delights of power so that we would abandon our path, but the resistance is our divine and religious duty and we will never abandon it. There is no room for compromise".
Nasrallah accused the US of initiating the Second Lebanon War, and denied that the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev led to the breakout of the war. "Bush and his men wanted to implement a plan for a new Middle East and designed a war.
"The most important thing for Americans is not Lebanon or Saudi Arabia, but the existence of Israel and its security," he said.
Nasrallah also leveled veiled criticism at the supporters of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, saying that as far as the murder of Hariri's father went "there are several leaders in Lebanon who have resumed contact with the Americans.
"They called on the Americans and the French to help them. These are leaders who wish to see a confrontation between Hezbollah and the Lebanese army and between Shiites and Sunnis. They feed off the conflicts."
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