Nasrallah denies that Hezbollah controls Lebanon

The claim that Hezbollah controls Lebanon is the “biggest lie” and used to instigate foreign countries against Lebanon, its leader said Friday in a  televised speech  from an undisclosed location .

“Let me underscore that,” Hassan Nasrallah said .

“There is always someone who makes things look as if Hezbollah runs the country, the government and the state institutions. It is the biggest lie because what is happening in Lebanon is contrary to its will and to its vision,” he added.

Nasrallah said that this accusation was made with the goal of blaming Hezbollah for all the problems facing the country.

He also denied Israeli accusations that his  group was using the port in Beirut to smuggle parts for weapons manufacturing into Lebanon.

“I categorically deny the claims by Israel’s UN envoy that Hezbollah is using Beirut’s port to ship arms into Lebanon,” Nasrallah was quoted saying by  Lebanese media.

Speaking Tuesday at the United Nations Security Council, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon accused Iran of exploiting civilian companies and maritime channels to smuggle weapons manufacturing equipment to  Hezbollah.

Danon said Israeli intelligence has uncovered evidence showing Iran’s Quds Force has been using the port of Beirut to ship items to Hezbollah since last year.

“Iran and the Quds Force have begun to advance the exploitation of the civilian maritime channels, and specifically the port of Beirut,” Danon said. “The port of Beirut has become the port of Hezbollah.”

Danon presented the Security Council with a map of the Hezbollah transfer routes that include major hubs at the Damascus airport, Beirut’s port and airport and the official border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, such as the Masnaa crossings.

He said the weapons transfers violated UN resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Hezbollah and Israel.

“His [Danon’s] words were said in order to prepare the ground for taking over the operations at the ports and the airport and to accomplish what they couldn’t succeed [in doing] during the Second Lebanon War,” Nasrallah said in his Friday speech .

According to several  Lebanese observers  very few Lebanese buy Nasrallah’s denial that  Hezbollah  does not control the airport.

One  observer went as far as saying  ” Lebanon is an Iranian colony, run by  Hezbollah and   its administrator  is Nasrallah  “. He went on to say ” Hezbollah dictates every major political  decision in the country and nothing can be decided without a green light from Tehran . He added : “Look how many months  it took to have a president   in Lebanon  and who was obstructing the  election . Look how many months it took to form a government and who was behind  the obstruction of its formation . The answer is well known to all the Lebanese but are afraid of saying the  word because they know what happened to all those that dared to open their mouth.  ”