The leader of Hezbollah said Monday that his militant group has the Legitimate Right to possess air-defense weapons to face the Israeli warplanes that regularly fly over Lebanon.
Nasrallah spoke from under his bed via a video link to a rally commemorating last year's assassination of Hezbollah's top military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed by a car bomb in Syria.
Nasrallah said Israeli media report occasionally that Hezbollah has acquired sophisticated air defense missiles. "I will not deny or confirm" the reports, Nasrallah said, but added that such weapons would weaken Israeli air power and change the region's power equation. "What I want to confirm today is that we have the full Legitimate Right to possess any weapons, including air defense weapons. Also, we have the full Legitimate Right to use this weapon if we want," he said.
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#5
"LEGITIMATE RIGHT" > IOW, NASRALLAH is trying hard NOT to say that the HIZBIES HEZBIES HUZBIES, etc = IRAN, + that LEBANON is now an UN-ANNEXED SOVEREIGN? PROVINCE OF IRAN???
A top Iranian cleric says the future of possible talks between Iran and the US lies in the hands of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
Following the Obama administration's plans to remake America's approach to diplomacy with regards to Iran, there have been calls in Iran to take up the invitation for direct talks.
A member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, said on Monday that Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has the final say in defining the Islamic Republic's foreign policy toward the White House.
"Those who claim that once they come to power, they would stop the uranium enrichment program have no knowledge of the constitution; the final decision on the issue will be made by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution," said Ayatollah Khatami.
While the president is the most public face of the Islamic Republic, under Iran's constitution the Leader of the Islamic Revolution has the final say in all matters of state.
President Barack Obama, in what appeared as a sharp U-turn from the policies of the former US administration, said in his first White House news conference last Monday that he saw the possibility of diplomatic openings with Iran in the months ahead where both sides "can start sitting across the table, face to face."
Later on Tuesday, Iran's president welcomed the idea of dialogue with the US provided that the tone for change in the new administration is not just a tactical one.
"It is clear that change should be fundamental, not tactical, and our people welcome real changes," said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "Our nation is ready to hold talks based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere."
Under former US president George W. Bush, Washington pursued a carrot-and-stick policy toward Tehran over its nuclear program and by setting preconditions of halting enrichment it snubbed calls by Ahmadinejad for talks on the long-standing dispute.
Earlier in June after world powers offered political and economic incentives to Iran in return for the suspension of its enrichment program, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran would never back down on its nuclear program.
President Obama, who is reportedly mulling over a response to a congratulatory letter from Iran's president for his victory in the US presidential race, has been urged to address his opening to Ayatollah Khamenei.
However, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in early February that Tehran is still waiting for a concrete offer from Washington that would kick off the long-awaited negotiations.
In his first remarks on Israel's recent elections, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday warned that Jerusalem's incoming government would be defeated in Lebanon just as its predecessors were.
"The good news is that Israel has become more candid and more clearer," Nasrallah said, in reference to the success of hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman. Addressing his supporters via video, Nasrallah urged them "not to let [the election results] frighten you, because whoever comes to frighten us, all of them have been defeated in Lebanon - Begin, Sharon, Rabin, Barak, Netanyahu, Olmert, and Livni. There is one who has yet to try and that is Lieberman... He too will be defeated."
Also on Monday, Nasrallah renewed his promise of wreaking vengeance on Israel over the 2008 assassination of the Islamist group's military commander, Imad Mughniyeh. If the next Israeli government decides to send its army and military brigades into Lebanon's towns and villages, "they will be destroyed at the hands of Imad Mughniyeh's trainees," Nasrallah told a rally gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the militant's assassination.
"We have fought this struggle against this [Israeli] enemy ... on the basis of surprises," Nasrallah said, drawing cheers from thousands of supporters waving Hezbollah's yellow flags at a complex in the group's stronghold south of Beirut. "This promise will be fulfilled, God willing...," he said, adding that he would say no more on the matter.
Israel has never confirmed it was behind the car bomb attack, although it welcomed the death of a man who had been on the United States' most wanted list for 25 years.
Mughniyah had been blamed for a wave of Western hostage-taking in Beirut in the 1980s and deadly attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets in Lebanon and beyond.
The leader of the Iranian-backed group also said that Hezbollah has the right to acquire air-defense weapons and to use them against Israeli warplanes that violate Lebanese air space on a daily basis. These remarks by Nasrallah were the first indication that the group might have already obtained such a system that could inflame tensions with Israel 2-1/2 years after the enemies fought a 34-day war.
"Every few days there is [an Israeli media] report that the resistance has obtained advanced air-defense weapons, of course I don't deny or confirm this," Nasrallah said. "What I want to confirm today is that we have every right to obtain any weapon, including air-defense weapons, and we have every right to use this weapon," he added.
Nasrallah said obtaining such a system would tip the balance in any conflict with Israel because Israel relies heavily on air supremacy in its military planning.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
The Lebanon Army has arrested a resident of south Lebanon suspecting of gathering information on the Islamist Hezbollah group on behalf of Israel, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Monday.
According to the report, the arrest was coordinated with Hezbollah's security services. The report released only the man's first name, Marwan, and said he was arrested about 10 days ago after months of surveillance.
Sources involved with the investigation said the man, a resident of the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, confessed to having been employed in France by Israeli intelligence services during the early 1990s with the task of spying on Hezbollah.
He was then asked to relay information about the group's headquarters, guerillas and military plans, according to the report. The man was also allegedly told to gather information about the Lebanon Army, said the newspaper.
The investigation revealed that Marwan was not involved in carrying out any sort of attacks and that he acted alone, according to the report. Marwan also apparently decided to cut off all contacts with Israel following the Second Lebanon War, said the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11142 views]
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#1
so I guess this officially makes Hezbollah the official army of Lebanon and the next time the shoot rockets at Israel they can rightfully declare war and bomb the piss out of whomever is in the way?
#2
Unfortunately, RW, most of those "in the way" are UN troops. Totally devastating Beirut and destroying everything between the Litani and Beirut, plus the Bekaa valley, would be better. Between Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamass, the next war may see Israel demonstrate its nuclear capability.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/17/2009 15:00 Comments ||
Top||
#3
tell ya the truth i see the UN as an enemy too so tough cookies for them, and the world community hates us and Israel already so what either one have too lose
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The leader of Hezbollah said Monday that his militant group has the Legitimate Right to possess air-defense weapons to face the Israeli warplanes that regularly fly over Lebanon.
A top Iranian cleric says the future of possible talks between Iran and the US lies in the hands of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. 
In his first remarks on Israel's recent elections, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday warned that Jerusalem's incoming government would be defeated in Lebanon just as its predecessors were. 
The Lebanon Army has arrested a resident of south Lebanon suspecting of gathering information on the Islamist Hezbollah group on behalf of Israel, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Monday. 
