BEIRUT: A Hezbollah leader has accused the party's rivals of being under foreign orders to avoid political dialogue, saying that his party is ready to make concessions for the sake of Lebanon.
“We have long called for agreement and dialogue for the sake of finding common solution,” Sheikh Naim Qassem said during a Hezbollah ceremony at the Batoul High School. “But unfortunately, the other camp does not have the appetite for dialogue at this stage, because foreign orders ban such a move.”
Agreeing on social and economic policies or reviving the state’s institutions do not require political consensus, the deputy head of Hezbollah added, calling to resolve the least controversial matters and leave the big questions aside.
“We acknowledge that any agreement required concessions from all sides, and we are ready for that,” he said. “But are you [Hezbollah's rivals] ready to make concessions for the sake of building the country?”
The government has been largely paralyzed over the last several years, with the most recent cause being the vacancy in the presidency. Parliament has failed more than a dozen times to elect a successor to Michel Sleiman, who left office in May, due to a boycott led by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement.
Addressing students who successfully passed the ninth grade, Qassem stressed that Hezbollah was strong and solid on Lebanon's eastern border.
He said ISIS and the Nusra Front, which he described as far from following Islam, would not be able to achieve any victory over Hezbollah’s fighters.
Hezbollah's fighters have been engaging in fierce clashes with Syrian rebels and Islamists along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Earlier this month, Nusra militants attacked Hezbollah posts in eastern Lebanon, sparking a deadly battle.
The incident provoked an atmosphere of caution and panic in Lebanon, two months after the end of the clashes in Arsal, where Army fought militants from Nusra and ISIS.
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