Hezbollah, Iran and Jumblatt Slam Kouchner’s “Hateful” Remarks

Almanar

Batoul Wehbe Readers Number : 334

23/01/2010 In a Friday statement Hezbollah slammed French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s statements regarding Israel following his yesterday’s meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Kouchner has reportedly stated that Lebanon’s problem is with Hezbollah and not Israel, because the resistance group “could launch an attack against Israel to appease Iran.” “If there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hezbollah in the best interest of Iran,” Kouchner claimed.

Hezbollah added that Kouchner’s positions oppose United Nations reports on Israeli violations. Also, the statement said that the French FM is covering for Israeli aggressions and that his positions contradict France’s past resistance to occupations.

Hezbollah said Kouchner was an accomplice to Israel and supporting the country in its aggression against Lebanon. The statement called on French authorities to be more responsible since they pretend to care about Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Tehran also moved to reject Kouchner’s accusations that it might try to fuel insecurity in southern Lebanon because of an "internal crisis." Kouchner made the accusation that Iran might try to use Hezbollah to create a conflict with Israel.

Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the "interfering" remarks. "Kouchner has apparently made the comments under the influence of Israelis," Ramin Mehman-Parast, a spokesman for the ministry, said. He said such "unwise" approaches by the French would not meet the interests of the national unity government in Lebanon and would solely feed Israeli agenda.

"It is clear to all that the Zionist regime [Israel] is the root cause of threats and occupation. It attacks innocent people … every day and deprives them of their basic rights," he said.

For his part, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said in an interview with As-Safir newspaper on Saturday that he disagrees with Kouchner’s statement that Iran might export its internal crisis to Lebanon by inciting Hezbollah to wage war against Israel.

The PSP head said Hezbollah’s arsenal is the key guarantee for confronting a possible Israeli attack - particularly, according to Jumblatt, after US President Barak Obama’s recent comments on the difficulty of achieving a Middle East peace settlement.

Jumblatt said the Lebanese have agreed on principles, of which the national defense strategy is the most important. “More than ever, we believe the defense strategy is in place to fight any aggression,” he added.

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