Nasrallah rages against 'hegemonic' US

Hezbollah chief broadcasts political platform, which promotes battle against 'unlimited expansionism'

Roee Nahmias|Published: 11.30.09 , 18:37

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah laid out his political platform Monday during a speech filmed by closed-circuit cameras. The platform promotes armed battle against Israel and the US, as well as all of the latter's protectorates.

"We see the US as a power that aims to impose hegemony in the region," Nasrallah explained. "The Islamic resistance movement in Lebanon aims to fight this hegemony and the (Israeli) occupation."

Nasrallah calls on civilians to join his army (Photo: AFP)

He said the US has been treating the globe as a market it aims to control, and that it was waging "a strategy of unlimited expansion".

"The Bush administration found in September 11 a chance to impose his influence, with the excuse of a war on terror," the Hezbollah leader said.

"He tried to create a parallel between terror and resistance. There is no doubt that American terror is the source of all terror in the world. This administration gave itself the right to embark on a war of destruction which does not distinguish between one man and the other."

'Political sectarianism preventing democracy'

Israel, in Nasrallah's view, is a "cancerous metastasis" supported by the US, which plans to conquer Lebanon and its territorial waters and is thus a "lasting threat".

He went on to rule out negotiation with his southern neighbors, supporting this with the enumeration of his organization's various victories.

"The resistance has managed to achieve a huge victory over the Zionist entity, provide the homeland with protection, and liberation of the remainder of its land. This function is a lasting necessity before Israel's expansionist threats and ambitions as well as the lack of a strong government in Lebanon," Nasrallah said, calling on civilians to enlist in his army of militants for the good of the nation.

The Hezbollah leader went on to dissect his country's political disharmony, and to promote the "canceling out of political sectarianism, which is preventing the development of the Lebanese political system and acting as an obstacle to democracy".

Nasrallah presented his vision of Lebanon's future as a country that will "respect public liberty, achieve national unity, and be able to protect its land, people, sovereignty, and independence". He added that he wanted Lebanon to have a "modern elections law".

The leader concluded by praising Iran as a central figure in the Muslim world. "Iran's policy is clear: Uncompromising support for the Palestinian issue," he said, explaining that the Islamic Republic was first to open a Palestinian Embassy on its territory, rather than an Israeli one.