Hezbollah prioritizes Israel over takfiris: Qassem
The Israeli threat gains primacy over the terrorist dangers facing Lebanon, Hezbollah’s Deputy Head Naim Qassem said...
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Hezbollah prioritizes Israel over takfiris: Qassem
BEIRUT: The Israeli threat takes priority over the takfiri dangers facing Lebanon, Hezbollah’s Deputy Head Naim Qassem said Tuesday, nothing that the party has been fighting exremists since since 2006.
“A priority will always be given to confronting the Israeli threat,” Qassem said during a graduation ceremony held at al-Jinan Hall in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The deputy head downplayed the threat posed by takfiri groups, saying that they are linked to Israel and have only been drawn in to confrontation with Hezbollah as a result of “circumstance.”
“The resistance against Israel is a decision that liberated the land,” while the reliance on the U.S. and the U.N. have failed in that regard, he added in reference to Hezbollah’s liberation of Israeli occupied territories in south Lebanon in May 2000.
Shifting to domestic politics, the Hezbollah number two announced his acceptance of Iranian aid pledged to the Lebanese Army, after some politicians voiced opposition to the donation due to complications with regards to international sanctions imposed on Tehran.
Qassem said that the only state he would exclude from efforts to arm the Lebanese military would be Israel.
With regards to Syria, Hezbollah’s intervention minimized the risks against Lebanon, Qassem added. However, the takfiri threat did not emerge as a result of the Syrian war.
Hezbollah intelligence has been warning of takfiris since 2006, he said, citing reports that said the extremists sought to “dispatch explosive rigged vehicles to target the party’s ceremonies and gatherings years before the outbreak of the Syrian crisis.”
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FPM lawmaker calls for anti-Parliament extension protests
BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement MP Alain Aoun Wednesday called on Lebanese to take to the streets to protest against a parliamentary extension.
“A demonstration against the extension will not pose a threat to political figures,” Aoun told local LBCI television channel.
But Aoun acknowledged that this was just wishful thinking.
“I wish protests would have influence and change the status quo,” he said.
The FPM is staunchly against the extension of Parliament’s mandate.
The party's leader Michel Aoun has said in a recent interview: “From the start we opposed the extension and submitted a challenge before the Constitutional Council [against the first extension].”
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Jumblatt: Nusra Front are not terrorists
BEIRUT: The Nusra Front is not a terrorist organization, Progressive Socialist Party Leader Walid Jumblatt said Tuesday night, as he called for talks with all opposition factions, including ISIS, in a political settlement over Syria.
“I don’t consider the Nusra Front to be terrorists,” Jumblatt said in a televised interview on OTV, arguing that the group is comprised of “Syrian citizens” who operate within a war-torn environment.
The PSP chief said that the only solution for the Syrian crisis is a political settlement that accommodates all elements of the Syrian opposition, going as far as saying that even "ISIS should be asked about its prospects for Syria."
“There is a need for a quick settlement to protect Syria’s unity, in which no component of the Syrian opposition should be left out, not even the Islamic State (ISIS),” Jumblatt added.
Jumblatt who leads the 11-man-strong Democratic Gathering Bloc in Parliament projected a “long war of attrition” in Syria, turned into a battleground for regional and international players.
“Iran is requested to reconsider its calculation in Syria, as well as Turkey. If no political solution is reached soon, Syria will be totally dismembered, Jumblatt said, stressing that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Baath regime cannot be part of any settlement.
Despite his opposition to the Nusra Front’s terrorist label, the PSP leader and Hezbollah are coordinating their efforts in preparation for a possible militant assault on the areas of West Bekaa and the neighboring areas of Hasbaya, Rashaya and Arqoub in southeast Lebanon, after Jumblatt received a tip from French intelligence that Nusra was actively and successfully recruiting from the area, sources told The Daily Star.
Lebanon’s security and stability hinges on its capacity to curb the repercussions of the raging war in Syria which could last for a very long time, Jumblatt added in the interview, calling on Lebanese politicians to reinforce the country’s immunity by rallying around the state and the Lebanese Army.
“We should protect ourselves from the impacts of the Syrian war, and it is about time that we rally behind the Army. It is the duty of all politicians to support the military institution.”
Jumblatt underscored the need to buttress the Army’s arsenal and reinforce its fighting capacities, but advised against accepting Iran’s donation to the military institution.
“I am for acquiring arms from any party, and am not against the Iranian offer as such, but accepting this donation would cause problems which we can do without,” Jumblatt said, referring to international sanctions imposed on Tehran.
Weather-related road accidents injure five in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Five people were injured in four weather-related road accidents that took place during heavy rainfall between 7 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Wednesday, security sources and the Traffic Management Center said.
They said two of the injured were from a six-vehicle crash on the Sayyad-Karantina highway Wednesday morning.
TMC said heavy rains also created pools of water mainly in several Beirut streets, including one near the Kuwaiti Embassy in the Bir Hasan neighborhood, another in Karantina and one in Ouzai, the southern entrance to the capital.
The Director-General of the Public Works Ministry Adib Dahrouj denied responsibility for the frequent street flooding that occurs after heavy rains.
"We have cleaned up the sewages since September. Waste comes from floods and this is normal. But the problem is due to violations on public land and disrespect for the laws,” Dahrouj told a local radio station.
Drivers were witnessing huge traffic congestion due to heavy rainfall that submerged many streets across Lebanon since Tuesday evening.
Beirut’s northern entrance also witnessed heavy traffic jams, particularly from Dbayeh to Nahr el-Mot, Sin el-Fil, Jisr el-Wati and vise versa.
Torrential rain also caused flooding on streets and in shops across the southern port city of Sidon and left many stranded, particularly along the Serail roundabout and the city’s main roads of Sitt Nafiseh and Habseh.
The meteorology department at the Beirut airport said Wednesday’s weather is mostly cloudy with wind and rain.
Police advised motorists to use extreme caution while rains persist. They also cautioned motorists to drive with extra caution on the Dahr al-Baidar highway, east of Lebanon, due to poor visibility.
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