The secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement says fighters from his groups are determined to clear Lebanon’s airspace of the presence of any Israeli military aircraft, emphasizing that they will not hesitate to target any intruding machine capable of flying.
Addressing his supporters in a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Friday evening, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said fighters of the Islamic resistance confronted a hostile Israeli drone in southern Lebanon’s skies with appropriate weapons the previous day, and forced it to leave the area.
“This proves that the resistance has a military leadership, which works independently and stays clear of domestic developments,” Nasarallah noted.
Back on August 25, Nasrallah said Hezbollah fighters will counter any further violation of the Lebanese airspace by Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately cease such breaches.
“Hezbollah will endeavor to down all Israeli drones, which may violate Lebanon’s airspace,” the Hezbollah chief said in a televised speck at the time.
Nasrallah said the Israeli drone incursion into Lebanon amounted to an open attack on the Arab country’s sovereignty.
He made the comments a day after two Israeli drones crashed in a southern neighborhood of Beirut.
Hezbollah said then the first drone had fallen on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office in Beirut’s Dahieh suburb. The second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one, had crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air, it added.
‘US obstructing reforms in Lebanon, creating tensions’
Elsewhere in his remarks on Friday, Nasrallah accused the United States of obstructing the implementation of fundamental reforms and materialization of sustainable development in Lebanon, stressing that Americans have only sought to create tensions and spark off crises there.
New Lebanon govt. must listen to people, foster public trust
The Hezbollah secretary general further underlined that the new government in Lebanon must strive to earn and retain public trust, and it must demonstrate seriousness, work strenuously and continuously, sort out priorities and stay on the path of openness and transparency for such an objective to be accomplished.
“We call for dialogue among all (Lebanese) political parties, parliamentarians, and honest protest leaders. Our country needs everyone, and everyone must shoulder his responsibility,” Nasrallah said.
He highlighted that Hezbollah did not support the resignation of Saad al-Hariri as prime minister, saying, “It was his choice and he had his own reasons.”
“Now that the prime minister has stepped down, the entire government is brought down. There is, therefore, no chance to implement any reform or cherish hopes for the betterment of the economy. We just have to wait,” the Hezbollah head said.
“We never asked protesters to leave the streets, we asked them to give government the chance to enact reforms,” Nasrallah said, emphasizing that refusal not to support the resignation of the Lebanese government was merely for the sake of the country’s national interests rather than those of Hezbollah.
“We feared chaos which would prevent the cabinet from paying its employees’ salaries,” the Hezbollah head said.
He underscored that the resistance in Lebanon is stronger than ever before and it has never been that powerful.
Nasrallah went on to say that his group has never been in control of any government in Lebanon. “This is only an attempt to hold Hezbollah responsible for the (rampant) corruption in the country,” he commented.
The Hezbollah chief also asked media outlets to exercise maximum vigilance, and not to propagate any sectarian call or foul language in the name of people’s voice.
“Curses are never the voice of people. All such verbal abuse is an attempt to pit opposite sides against each other, and cause trouble and clashes in the country. The form and amount of the ongoing slander is unprecedented.
“Lebanese people has been able to thwart many attempts aimed at generating tensions in the country, thanks to their awareness and consciousness,” Nasrallah said.
