Monday, February 15, 2016

Reports: Hezbollah chief Nasrallah hospitalized in Iran with cancer

(JPost) Hasan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, arrived in Iran on Sunday to receive urgent medical treatment for his cancer, after his condition recently deteriorated, Lebanese media reported on Monday.

According to the reports, Nasrallah was evacuated to the Iranian hospital, where he was treated by doctors from Russia and North Korea, after cancer cells spread to new parts of his body.

In light of Hezbollah's silence about the medical condition of its chief, anti-Hezbollah Lebanese activists began spreading rumors about Nasrallah's death. However, Nasrallah is expected to deliver a speech on Tuesday evening, during the Memorial Day for Hezbollah's martyrs.

Taking advantage of Nasrallah's absence, the Lebanese politician Saad Hariri vehemently attacked Hezbollah's chief. Speaking on the 11th anniversary of the assassination of his father, Rafik Hariri, Saad Hariri claimed that Hezbollah is the main party responsible for the presidential vacuum in Lebanon that has lasted 21 months.

Hariri also vowed to prevent the organization from dragging Lebanon, an Arab country, into hostilities with Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab states, and claimed that Hezbollah is fighting in the wrong places with the wrong excuses.