Hezbollah MP Walid Sukarieh questioned Saturday the demand that Beirut be stripped of weapons.
He justified the presence of Hezbollah arms in the city by saying: “War with Israel is not restricted to the South, but it encompasses the whole of Lebanon, so what would stop Israel from making a landing in Beirut or the Bekaa or any other region?”
in an interview with the daily Asharq al-Awsat, he asked: “Is it acceptable that some areas be like Monaco aimed at tourism, while others are aimed at waging war? Do they want us to raise the white flag and surrender in the capital?”
The MP said that arms should be controlled and organized, not taken away.
The Lebanese were outraged about the clash that took place last Tuesday in the Beirut neighborhood of Borj Abi Haidar between supporters of the the pro-Syrian Association of Islamic Charitable Projects—also known as Al-Ahbash—and the Iranian backed Hezbollah militants , leading to the death of three people, including Hezbollah official Mohammad Fawwaz.
The clash was the worst since May 2008, when Hezbollah gunmen swept through Sunni neighborhoods of Beirut after a government crack down on the group’s telecommunications network.
March 14 MP Jamal al-Jarrah told the Voice of Lebanon (VOL) on Friday that all armed parties must voluntarily hand over their weapons to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
“The arms should target the Israeli enemy and not the Lebanese people,” Jarrah said, calling to make Beirut an arms and militia free city.
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