[An Nahar] Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan NasrallahThe satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
rejected on Thursday a suggestion that the Lebanese-Syrian border be closed due to the state's inability to support the burden of refugees pouring in from the war-torn country.
He said during a televised speech marking 40 days after Ashura: "The border with Syria should not be shut and the refugees, regardless if they support or oppose the Syrian regime, should be hosted in Leb."
He warned that Syria and the entire region is facing a threat of division along sectarian, religious, and ethnic lines.
"We fundamentally and ideologically reject any form of partition or division of any Arab or Islamic country and call for them to preserve their unity," he stated.
"From Yemen to Iraq to Syria, the region is threatened more than ever by partition, even in Egypt and Libya and Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
," Nasrallah declared.
"We in Leb and in the region are living through one of the most important and dangerous phases, an atmosphere of strife," he added.
"The Lebanese must commit to the unity of their nation, land, people, and institutions," he stressed.
On Leb's handling of the Syrian crisis, he noted that various political powers have differences on how to tackle the issue, but they are in agreement over avoiding the spread of the unrest to Leb.
Other powers, however, seek to spread the unrest to Leb through creating sectarian tensions in order to spark violence in the country, he noted.
Nasrallah praised the government for preventing the spread of the instability in Syria to Leb, indirectly noting that had the March 14 camp "been in power, then the country would indeed have been linked to the unrest in Syria."
"Hizbullah has long called for calm and against being dragged into any conflict through its commitment to mutual coexistence," he remarked.
Commenting on the flow of refugees from Syria to Leb, Nasrallah said: "This issue should be tackled from a purely humanitarian perspective and not be linked to political affairs."
"The border with Syria should not be shut for any reason," he stressed.
"The real solution to the flow of refugees does not lie in closing the border, but in working on reaching a political solution in Syria that would help halt the bloodshed," he declared.
"Those responsible for the ongoing flood of refugees are the sides preventing this solution, whether from within Syria or on the regional and international scenes," explained the Hizbullah leader.