Nasrallah to Rule if March 14 Rejects Veto Share with March 8 Majority
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday offered the March 14 alliance a veto powered share in the forthcoming cabinet if his March 8 coalition won the parliamentary elections.
"If they rejected it, we would rule with a national approach," he told a crowd marking the first anniversary of Imad Mughniyeh”s killing by a car bomb explosion in Damascus.
Nasrallah denounced "violence that took place two days ago," in reference to the killing of Lutfi Zeineddine and wounding 30 others in attacks by March 8 partisans against March 14 supporters marking the 4th anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s assassination.
However, "causes of this violence should be tackled too," Nasrallah said via a video link .
It is not enough that "a leader makes calm speeches, while officials around him are not in line with his approach," he said.
Nasrallah paid tribute to all efforts exerted to maintain calm, saying "we are headed to an important era and let us resort to the judicial authority."
The Hizbullah secretary-general also said that his group has the right to possess air-defense weapons to face Israeli warplanes that regularly fly over Lebanon.
Nasrallah, however, refused to confirm or deny persistent Israeli reports that Hizbullah may have acquired anti-aircraft missiles.
He did say an air defense system would change the balance of power by shattering Israel”s air superiority after Hizbullah managed to withstand Israel”s air, ground and sea bombardment during their 2006 war.
Nasrallah said Israeli media report occasionally that Hizbullah has acquired sophisticated air defense missiles.
"I will not deny or confirm" the reports, Nasrallah told the crowd, 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 right to possess any weapons, including air defense weapons. Also, we have the full right to use this weapon if we want," he said.
He called for wide participation in the forthcoming "decisive" elections.
"We should overcome the past and benefit from mistakes that had been committed. Domestically we do not speak of an enemy," Nasrallah added.
"We should overcome all problems of the past, irrespective of how we assess them," he added.
On regional issues, Nasrallah said he backs any intra-Palestinian reconciliation and welcomes any inter-Arab reconciliation, especially between Saudi Arabia and Syria.
"We need not renew the pledge to avenge Imad Mughniyeh”s killing. This vow would be achieved. Enough," Nasrallah declared.
If the Israeli army ever thought of invading Lebanon "it would be destroyed on the hands of Mughniyeh”s students," Nasrallah added.
He urged all the Arabs to back the "resistance option" against Israel, saying the "compromise offer has collapsed."