Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Monday that his party will "not be dragged" into a civil war in Lebanon, which he accused the United States and Israel of provoking by "targeting" resistance movements in the region. "Why is it that only the countries with resistance movements, like Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, are now threatened by civil wars?" Nasrallah asked during a speech on the occasion of Ashoura attended by tens of thousands of Hizbullah supporters.A heavily guarded Nasrallah made his comments from a balcony of a building that had been barricaded by several layers of Hizbullah security men, overlooking a massive sea of black-clothed mourners who had arrived from various corners of Beirut's southern suburbs. "Your presence in Lebanon is a threat to the enemies of Lebanon," Nasrallah said during the holiest Shiite rite, which commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein in 680 by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in Iraq.
The commemoration turned political as Hizbullah's leader launched into a speech attacking the US and Israel. "They are the ones plotting a new conspiracy for a civil war in Lebanon ... but we will not be dragged into internal strife and fighting," he vowed, as echoes of boos reverberated through the crowd at the mention of "Bush" and "Israel."
US President George W. Bush accused Iran, Syria and Hizbullah on Monday of fomenting the latest violence in Lebanon in a bid to topple its government and said that "those responsible for creating chaos must be called to account."