BEIRUT: The two most dangerous things facing Lebanon are the existence of Israel and the mentality of sectarianism, Hezbollah’s deputy chief said Tuesday, describing the latter as a tool used by the politically weak.
“I will be clear, look at the language of some officials. He who uses sectarian headlines to incite and manipulate feelings is weak, because if he could mobilize people through logic, truth, evidence and vision, he would have done that,” Naim Qassem said at a dinner for Hezbollah officials in Mount Lebanon.
“The sectarian coat is the coat of the weak.”
Qassem said Hezbollah’s strategic alliance with the secular, but mostly-Christian Free Patriotic Movement is proof that the party is ready to collaborate with any party who shares its vision for Lebanon.
“It was a historic achievement when we made the agreement with the FPM, and this is not an easy thing,” he said. “Hezbollah, the religious party that carried Islam’s ideology and sharia... extends hands to the Free Patriotic Movement that possesses a secular orientation.”
The official also mentioned Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, who maintains warm relations with Hezbollah. Rai recently saluted “the resistance” during a tour of eastern Lebanon.
“We have received the salutation to the resistance, and we in turn salute Patriarch Rai for his greeting.”
Qassem said Lebanon’s prestige and significance in the region were boosted by those recent developments, pointing out that the world now takes into consideration the opinions of Lebanese figures for regional solutions.
His comments came as an indirect response to Hezbollah’s political rivals who claim that the party’s fighting alongside Syrian government forces brought the Syrian war into Lebanon.
“In Syria, we defended a project and not a regime,” Qassem said. “We will defend, anywhere, a project that protects the resistance and breaks, defeats or smashes the American-Israeli-takfiri plan.”
Separately Tuesday, a Hezbollah delegation visited several Christian religious figures in Mount Lebanon to offer Christmas greetings and stress on Muslim-Christian coexistence.
The Mahdi Scouts, which is Hezbollah’s scout group, have also been performing Christmas recitals along with Christian choirs in many locations around the country for the same purpose.
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