Sunday, August 4, 2013

Lebanese Christian leader assails Hezbollah for provoking Israel

Samir Geagea reacts to Nasrallah's anti-Israel speech on Friday; accuses Hezbolllah leader of dragging Lebanon towards war.
(JPost) Ethnic tensions in Lebanon are resurfacing over what some say is Hezbollah’s destabilizing role in the region.

In a local television interview, Samir Geagea, a prominent Lebanese Christian, accused the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia on Sunday of “dragging the country into war against the wishes of its leaders,” Israel Radio reported.

“Whoever desires stability in Lebanon doesn’t send aircraft to fly over Israel and doesn’t launch a disastrous war against Israel that is likely to end with heavy casualties,” Geagea said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding on Friday to deliver his first major speech in years, addressing a rally in his southern Beirut stronghold in support of the Palestinian conflict against Israel.

"Israel poses a danger on all people of this region...including Lebanon, and removing it is a Lebanese national interest," Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters in his half-hour speech.

The charismatic Shi'ite cleric has lived mainly in the shadows, fearing assassination, since Hezbollah fought an inconclusive month-long war with Israel in 2006.

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