'Proud': Lebanese residents celebrate end of war
Ph
Hizbullah: No more clashes with Lebanese army
Senior Hizbullah leader tells al-Sinara newspaper 'Hizbullah victory will rock the Zionist entity'
Hizbullah political bureau member Sheikh Heder Nor al-Din said there would be no more clashes between the Lebanese army and Hizbullah members in southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire agreements aimed at preventing Hizbullah members from staying in the area. The comments were published in an interview in the Nazareth-based al-Sinara newspaper.
"There is coordination between us and every political and social movement in the south area, and between us and the army especially. We therefore do not expect there to be any kind of clash," said al-Din.
He also addressed the Hizbullah flags seen on the homes of residents near the border, and said: "These are not fighters of the organization. The local residents are the winners and they therefore waved the flags because they are proud of the resistance. The organization's fighters are all along the border."
Despite the comments, when asked about the wide scale destruction across the country following the fighting, al-Din said that the destruction does not compare to any other war that took place in the area. "The destruction is frightening to the extent that it can't be described. It beats the destruction from World War Two," he claimed.
Al-Din was asked whether the destruction sits well with Hizbullah's claims of a victory. He replied by saying that Hizbullah won a victory which will "rock the Zionist entity."
"If they would destroy your house but you would succeed in defeating your enemy without allowing him to reach his goals, does that not mean you won? We are talking here about defeat and victory according to understandings of what happened on the ground, where we prevented the enemy from reaching its goals. This is not a normal victory but a victory that will rock the Zionist entity, where a military investigation committee has already been set up, and it will reach the highest levels – not only in the army but also in the political arena," said al-Din.
Responding to a question on whether Israel obtained its goal of a disarmed Hizbullah, al-Din claimed that his organization was not armed.
"Hizbullah is not an armed organization but one which operates from within the people and for the people, and it exists with the people. It's people are of the area. How can Israel talk about getting them out of the area?" He said.
Al-Din claimed that IDF reports on the number of Hizbullah members killed in battle were complete falsehoods. "The numbers Israel is talking about are not true. We are not scared of hiding our martyrs and we are not afraid of giving this information to our people. Every day was announced the number of our martyrs. In the coming days it will be proven how much Israel lied on this issue," he said.
Nor Al-Din refused to address voices raised in opposition to Hizbullah heard in Lebanon, headed by Druze leaders in the countries such as Walied Jumblatt, who accused Hizbullah of forcing a war on Lebanon that most objected to. With that, he responded to claims that the country is not helping people who's homes were destroyed sufficiently.
"It's not enough that it doesn't help, but also that they are talking about people who act as if they were a state within a state, but on the ground the state has not done a thing up to now," he said.
Nor Al-Din also addressed rumors according to which Jawad Nasrallah, son of the Hizbullah leader, took part in battles against the IDF.
"Brother Jawad took part in the jihad together with other fighters in the south, together with the sons of other senior members of the movement. However I stress that brother Jawad, son of the secretary-general, was not harmed," said Nor al-Din.
Hassan's oldest son, Hadi, was killed in battle with IDF soldiers in 1997, after a Navy commando unit operation in which 13 IDF soldiers were killed.
The body of Hadi Nasrallah was taken by IDF soldiers, but was later handed over to Hizbullah.
