U.S. Suggests Hizbullah Speech Shows Self-Inflicted Damage
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah”s claim that his group does not want to control Lebanon may reveal how self-defeating its recent armed offensive in Beirut was, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.
"I think their actions belie the statements," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked to comment on Nasrallah”s speech to his supporters in Lebanon on Monday.
"They (Hizbullah) showed a willingness to use arms to kill their fellow citizens. Perhaps these words are a recognition of the real political damage done to Hizbullah," he said.
"Any pretense of it as a liberation organization, or an organization designed to protect Lebanese from outsiders has really been torn away," McCormack added.
The Hizbullah-led opposition, which won admiration in the past for fighting Lebanon”s southern neighbor Israel, staged an armed takeover of large swathes of mainly Sunni west Beirut earlier this month.
The assault angered many Lebanese but led to negotiations to end an 18-month political feud between the Hizbullah-led opposition and the Western-backed ruling majority that left the nation without a head of state for six months.
As part of a deal brokered in Qatar last week by the Arab League, General Michel Suleiman was elected by parliament Sunday in a first step towards national reconciliation.
The following day, in a speech marking the eighth anniversary of Israel”s pullout from south Lebanon after a two-decade occupation, Nasrallah pledged that his Shiite group would not use its weapons for political gains.
"Hizbullah does not want power over Lebanon, nor does it want to control Lebanon or govern the country," Nasrallah said.
But he also warned that the new government should not try to use the army to tackle the weapons of Hizbullah or any of its political allies.