Thursday, 6 November 2014

Hezbollah wants all politicians to stand together


BEIRUT: In a new sign of Hezbollah’s attempts at rapprochement, the party’s deputy chief Naim Qassem Thursday called on Lebanese political leaders to stand together to shield Lebanon from regional instability. “There is a great opportunity for Lebanon amid the political and security fire raging in the region, which, if seized by political leaders, will protect the country and serve the interests of all,” Qassem said, according to remarks provided by Hezbollah’s media office.


Qassem underscored the need to improve socio-economic and political conditions in impoverished north Lebanon, saying that the Army’s military operation in Tripoli last month had spared the area from the harassment of jihadists.


“It is the right of north Lebanon and its capital city, Tripoli ... to be relieved from the nuisance of jihadists,” Qassem said.


“Now that the Lebanese Army has succeeded in reinstating security, there must be a comprehensive resolution to all the political and social problems [in the north] in order to deprive opportunists of any possible pretext [to undermine security],” Qassem said.


Hezbollah’s moves toward rapprochement with political rivals, notably the Future Movement, came in the wake of the Army’s clampdown on Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist militants in Tripoli and other parts of north Lebanon in late October.


Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah earlier this week offered rare praise for the Future Movement for standing with the Lebanese Army against the militants in the north. Nasrallah also called for a new era of dialogue between political rivals and offered to cooperate with the Future Movement to protect Lebanon from regional turmoil.


Future Movement leader Saad Hariri has also expressed his readiness to cooperate with all political factions, including Hezbollah.



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