"They are stuck with us for 50 years more," Nasrallah said.

But the kind of identity Hezbollah wants for Lebanon does not spell out good news for Lebanon…

Hezbollah has been accused by the parliament majority of trying to bring Syria back to Lebanon. Jumblatt today accused Hezbollah and the opposition as being a’ state within a state’:

"The opposition is a state run by Iran and the Syrian regime in Lebanon. There is a state within the state. We have the Hezbollah army in addition to the Lebanese army, we have Hezbollah intelligence in addition to the Lebanese Army intelligence, there are territories that the Lebanese army cannot enter and the Lebanese state cannot practice its authority on such lands," Jumblatt said.

In his televised speech to 1700 Hezbollah students who graduated from a Hezbollah run university , Nasrallah also attacked the international tribunal saying it is designed to announce the verdicts that have already been made against certain suspects in the 2005 murder of former PM Rafik Hariri and related crimes.

He called the four generals jailed in connection with the Hariri crime "political prisoners" in Lebanon and strongly defended them .

Nasrallah was of course referring to the former director general of the general security department Gen. Jamil as-Sayyed, former Presidential Guards commander Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan , former commander of the internal security forces Gen. Ali el-Hajj, and former director of army intelligence Raymond Azar.

All the above generals have been accused by former UN chief investigator Detlev Mehlis of being behind the Hariri crime. According to Mehlis report General Jamil Al-Sayyed cooperated closely with General Mustapha Hamdan and General Raymond Azar in the preparation of the assassination of Mr. Hariri. He also coordinated with the Syrian General Rustom Ghazaleh and the fugitive Palestinian terrorist leader Ahmad Jibreel in Lebanon.

Further, according to Mehlis report General Hamdan and General Azar provided logistical support( providing money, telephones, cars, walkie-talkies, pagers, weapons, ID-cards etc.). Those who knew of the crime in advance were among others, former pro- Syrian MP Nasser Kandil and General Ali Al-Hajj.

Nasrallah also paid tribute to the very unpopular Lebanese president President Emile Lahoud, terming him "a guardian of national principles."

Lahoud’s term was illegally extended in 2004 when the Syrian regime of Bashar el Assad forced the Lebanese parliament to amend the constitution in order to extend Lahoud's mandate for three years, in direct challenge to U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 which called for presidential elections without foreign intervention.

President Assad calls Lahoud ‘ my personal representative in Lebanon and Lahoud used to say during his trips to Syria ‘ I am a soldier in the Syrian army according to former Syrian VP Abdel Halim Khadam .

Nasrallah let down the Lebanese today

For Nasrallah to call Lahoud a “guardian of national principals” is an insult to all the Lebanese, when the majority considers him illegitimate.

Instead of apologizing to the nation for the blunder in July last summer when he triggered the war with Israel , which devastated the country , Nasrallah is more defiant than ever and acted as the dictator of Lebanon

The Lebanese expected him to defend Lebanon’s independence, sovereignty and freedom , instead of defending the jailed criminals behind the Hariri crime ..

The Lebanese expected Nasrallah to defend the tribunal whose sole aim is to find the truth about the Hariri assassination and to bring to Justice those that committed the crime .?…One local observer who was angered by Nasrallah’s attack on the tribunal told Ya Libnan :” Nasrallah always led us to believe that he prided himself of being a personal friend of former PM Rafik Hariri . What kind of friendship is this ? As they say with friends like this who needs enemies “ He added ?

Another observer told Ya Libnan: “The only reason Nasrallah is attacking the tribunal is because Syria is fighting it ….and Nasrallah is trying to defend the Syrian regime , which has been accused of being behind Hariri ’s assassination”. He added “ I am getting tired of hearing Nasrallah defend Syria”. Isn’t it about time he starts defending Lebanon?

Former President Amin Gemayel told voice of Lebanon today” Syria is determined at any cost to make sure that the Hariri international tribunal never takes place , even if they ( Syrians) have to destroy Lebanon completely and the sky falls down “.

Amin Gemayel accused the opposition led by Hezbollah as being the extension of Syria’s influence and for executing Syria’s destructive plans in Lebanon .

Is Nasrallah proud of this role ?

It is time to think Lebanon !

By: Ali Hussein , Ya Libnan Volunteer