Hezbollah chief warns of civil war, will accept a govt of specialists if Aoun and Hariri reach a deal
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered a televised speech from an undisclosed location in which he commented about the current state of affairs in Lebanon
Here are the main highlights of his speech
- Protests and roadblocks
- Nasrallah said he is “fed up” with the issue of roadblocks, he called on the army and security forces to prevent the blocking of roads.
- He accused the protesters taking part in a suspicious act that does not contribute to resolving the crisis; but rather deepen the economic crisis that can put the country on the brink of internal strife, hinting that Hezbollah might step in “if the army and security forces do not succeed in reopening roads.”
- He warned that angry reactions lead nowhere and” we must use our brains”.
He warned that some foreign forces and internal parties are pushing for civil war
“When they find themselves impotent in the face of the resistance in Lebanon, they might resort to this choice (civil war)”, he said without elaborating
At the end of the 15 year civil war in 1990 , Hezbollah was the only party that was allowed by the Syrian occupying force to keep its arms . Hezbollah was reportedly allowed to keep its arms to resist Israeli occupation of South Lebanon . Israel pulled out of south Lebanon about 21 years ago but Hezbollah kept its arms and has since used them to create a state within the state of Lebanon . Thanks to Iran and to its alliance with the president of Lebanon Michel Aoun , who is the former army chief ,Hezbollah is now much more powerful that the Lebanese army
- Collapsing Lebanese pound
He said that the central bank governor has a major responsibility to prevent this unacceptable surge in the dollar exchange rate.
Cabinet formation
He warned that if a new government is formed he wants to reactivate the resigned caretaker government of PM Hassan Diab . Whom he described as a” patriotic man who should not set condition”
But Diab threatened last week to stop performing his duties as caretaker PM if a new government is not formed quickly
- He called on PM-designate Saad Hariri to reconsider the government of specialists and to form instead a techno-political government that can take difficult decisions , but added that Hezbollah has accepted a government of nonpartisan specialists, and if an agreement is reached on Monday between President Aoun and Hariri he will accept it.
He stressed that the solution does not lie in the formation of the government but rather it begins with the formation of the government.
Crisis
Nasrallah blamed the financial crisis on Israeli wars, the Israeli occupation of the South, the U.S. project in the region, its repercussions on Lebanon, and the global war on Syria, the smuggling of deposits abroad, the freezing of deposits in banks, the Beirut port blast, the protests that began on October 17 and the tensions that followed.
Nasrallah did not mention the smuggling of subsidized goods to Syria and Iraq including fuel , medicine and flour through the illegal border crossing that are under Hezbollah’ control, nor did he acknowledge any responsibility for the port explosion resulting from the 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate that were stored for the Syrian regime for use in its barrel bombs against its civilians .
Only about 500 tons exploded according to the FBI , the rest were shipped by Hezbollah to Syria and to its cells in Lebanon and overseas.