Hizbullah: We're arming for second round
In interview to Iranian news agency, group representative in Tehran says his organization is preparing for 'second round against Israel,' contrary to UN resolution
In an interview with the Iranian news agency Fars, al-Din said: "No one can promise us that Israel won't attack again. Whoever lives as a neighbor to the Zionist regime is in danger and must not save any effort to obtain all of the means to defend himself. We are convinced that there still danger and the situation has not yet been solved. We must, all the time, prepare ourselves for self-defense and to plan for the next stage."
'Situation is good'
During an interview, al-Din was asked about Hizbullah's military situation after the war.
"Our situation is very good, the Israelis didn't manage to strike Hizbullah's military command and our ability to launch missiles. In the first days we launched 100 missiles and in recent days we fired 350 missiles a day. So we have no problem from a military perspective," he replied.
Regarding UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701, calling for, among others, the disarmament of Hizbullah, Sif Al-Din said that his organization had no intention of disarming, as the issue was an internal Lebanese one.
"From the perspective of the parliament and government in Lebanon, Hizbullah is not a military militia, but a resistance force. Therefore, the clause in resolution 1559 (calling on the disarmament of armed militias – D.C.) can't include Hizbullah. The Lebanese agreed among themselves that Hizbullah's disbanding is an internal issue and should be solved among one another," he said.
He added that pressure from the West on Hizbullah would not be effective.
"After the murder of the Lebanese prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri, and resolution 1559, heavy pressure was placed on Hizbullah in order to disarm. We all understood that no one can disband Hizbullah, even Israel's foreign minister admitted this," said al-Din.
'Lebanese army can't deal with Israel'
The Hizbullah representative to Iran added that Lebanon had one problem and that was "a possible attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon. We have to discuss the way to defend ourselves. Our main problem is how to use force to defend Lebanon," he said.
Despite his remarks on the arming of Hizbullah for a second round with Israel, al-Din said that he was not interested in war.
"We are not interested in war, because we have families. We want to live. But so long as there is a danger called the Zionist regime we'll continue to protect ourselves. The current way is best way to remove the danger from the direction of the Zionist regime," he added.
Addressing the deployment of the Lebanese army in south Lebanon, al-Din said that his organization had no opposition to the move so long as it would not be asked to disarm. He added that there was no possibility that Hizbullah would join the Lebanese army.
"One of the reasons we didn't agree in advance to the deployment of the army in south Lebanon is that we are worried for the army, because it doesn't have the capability of dealing with Israel. If the Lebanese agree that the army deploys in the south, we have no problem. But the entrance of the army to this area is dangerous for it and we are worried from this perspective," he said.
