Hezbollah: Arms needed to resist Israel
Israeli decision to withdraw from northern border village won't end Hezbollah's armed struggle against Jewish state, senior group member says; 'Resistance and its weapons still a national need,' Hussein Khalil says
A senior Hezbollah official says despite Israel's decision "in principle" to pull out of a disputed border village, the group's weapons are still necessary.
The comments of Hussein Khalil, the political adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, come three days after Israel announced its decision to withdraw from the northern half of Ghajar.
Khalil said Saturday that Israel is still occupying the disputed Shebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba Hills captured from Syria four decades ago.
"The resistance and its weapons are still a national need to liberate remaining occupied Lebanese territories especially Shebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba Hills," Khalil told reporters after meeting Christian leader Michel Aoun, a strong ally of Hezbollah.
The Security Cabinet approved on Wednesday a plan to withdraw Israeli forces from the northern part of Ghajar, an Arab village which straddles the Lebanese border.
No date has been set yet for the withdrawal from the northern section of the village, which has been under Israeli rule since the state's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
According to the ministers' decision Wednesday, the IDF will withdraw from the northern part of the village and leave it under the UN's authority, redeploying forces on the southern side of the border.
However, Ghajar residents continued to express fervent opposition to the move, holding a protest earlier this week attended by some 400 people who vowed to prevent UN forces from entering the village.
"The entrance of UN forces to the northern part of Ghajar means effectively splitting the village in two," said council spokesman Najib Khatib.
Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report
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