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Photo: Reuters
President George W. Bush: 'Responsibility for this suffering lies with Hizbullah'
Photo: Reuters

Bush: Lebanon war part of battle against terror

US President says ‘Hizbullah started the crisis, and it suffered a defeat in this crisis’; adds: We can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks

US President George W. Bush said Monday that Hizbullah guerillas suffered a defeat at the hands of Israel in their month-long Mideast war. “There’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon,” Bush said.

 

Bush also said the war was part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror and “We can only imagine how much more dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapon it seeks.”

 

Bush said Iran and Syria were the primary sponsors of Hizbullah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers, igniting the battle with Israel. More than 900 people were killed in the fighting, and there was massive destruction in southern Lebanon.

 

Bush said the “Responsibility for this suffering lies with Hizbullah.”

 

The president spoke at the State Department after conferring with his national security team, first at the Pentagon and then at the State Department. He was flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

 

Bush said the UN ceasefire resolution adopted Friday was “An important step forward that will help bring an end to the violence.”

 

“We certainly hope the ceasefire holds,” the president said.

 

'Strategic, historic victory against Israel'

 

“Lebanon can’t be a strong democracy when there is a state within a state and that’s Hizbullah,” Bush said. “Hizbullah attacked Israel without any knowledge of the (Lebanese) government. Hizbullah attacked Israel. Hizbullah started the crisis, and Hizbullah suffered a defeat in this crisis,” the president said.

 

In the Mideast, there were competing claims about who came out on top in the month-long war that claimed more than 900 lives.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the war had shifted the strategic balance in the region and eliminated the “State within a state” Run by Hizbullah , restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty in the south.

 

But Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said his guerrillas achieved a “Strategic, historic victory” against Israel. “We came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were defeated (before),” Nasrallah said. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.14.06, 23:13
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