Beirut - Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah claimed a war was declared on Hezbollah, and vowed to continue holding Lebanon under siege until the government overturns decisions impacting the militia. "A war was declared against us. When the declaration ends, the disobedience ends," declared Nasrallah in a press conference on Thursday. "The decisions (of the government) are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war... on behalf of the United States and Israel."He directly said that he would go to war with the Lebanese people if he felt Hezbollah's was being forced to disarm. "Yes, we hit the streets, protested, cut off roads and blocked the airport. This is civil disobedience as it occurs in any country." In Hassan Nasrallah's fantasy world, most countries allow outlaws to take the streets with machine guns and RPG's?
Walid Jumblatt had clearly upset the Hezbollah chief, as most of his speech was leveled at the majority leader. Nasrallah threatened to "cut off" Jumblatt's hand if he dared to touch Hezbollah's weapons. "Whoever is going to target us will be targeted by us. Whoever is going to shoot at us will be shot by us."
He repeatedly referred to the ruling coalition as "Jumblatt's government", launching a series of personal attacks on the Druze leader, calling him a liar and a killer.
| Nasrallah added that the government plans to turn the airport into a military base for the CIA and Mossad. |
"If we wanted to stage a coup, you would have woken up this morning in prison, or in the middle of the sea," a visibly arrogant Nasrallah said, responding to allegations that Wednesday's chaos was a staged coup d'etat.
Nasrallah went to great lengths to justify the illegal communications network Hezbollah has in place, saying it is used in "defending the country against Israel."
Nasrallah alleges that the government offered to overlook the network if Hezbollah would shut down it's occupation of downtown Beirut. He continued to attack the government, calling them a "gang" for attempting to "blackmail" Hezbollah, claiming the resistance and opposition are two separate entities, a hypocritical statement given the fact that he launched his campaign of chaos on Wednesday hiding behind the umbrella of the opposition.
Regarding a forthcoming war with Israel, Nasrallah claimed, "no, it is not certain that we are headed for a July 2008," however he continued to add, "I have stationed five militant groups on the border, and they are still there for protection." He accused the government of taking actions to "protects the unparalleled monstrous state of Israel."