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Hezbollah not to aid Iran if US strikes
Lebanons Hezbollah, a close ally of Iran, would not jump to Tehrans defence if the US launched a strike against its nuclear programme but would step in if the conflict spread to Lebanon, its deputy chief said yesterday.Sheikh Naim Kassem said that the guerrilla group, which was established by Iran in the early 1980s but has since grown into a political party with 14 seats in parliament, had no plans to get involved in regional battles. Hezbollah is not a tool of Iran, it is a Lebanese project that implements the demands of Lebanese, Kassem said in an interview in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut. Iran is a big country with real capabilities and can defend itself if it is exposed to American danger. Western diplomats and Middle East analysts say that any attack on Iran would almost certainly increase tensions between Hezbollah and its foe Israel. Kassem said it was hard to predict how any conflict would play out and that decisions would be made according to the situation on the ground, but that in principle Hizbollah would only intervene to defend Lebanon, primarily from Israeli attack. Kassem painted another scenario in which Israel fired first to preempt any possible Hezbollah action if fellow Shiite Muslim Iran was attacked. Hezbollah has no decision to enter any battle related to the region and has said repeatedly that its position is one of defence against aggression, he added. But we cannot say to Israel, which might attack Lebanon one of these days, that we are going to sit back and watch, even if Israel called this attack a protective measure for fear that Iran might benefit from the situation in Lebanon... Such pretexts are rejected. Posted by: ryuge 2006-05-23 |
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