Hezbollah urges Lebanese Government to avoid escalatory decisions
Shafaq News – Beirut
The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, on Monday called on the Lebanese government to distance the country from actions that could further inflame tensions, urging all parties to work to avoid worsening the current state of unrest.
In a statement, Raad added that Hezbollah sees no justification for Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and his government to take what he termed “adventurous decisions” against Lebanese citizens who oppose the occupation. He accused Israel of failing to uphold ceasefire obligations for more than a year and four months, arguing that it had disregarded commitments related to maintaining calm.
Earlier today, Salamannounced an immediate ban on Hezbollah’s military and security activities and limited the group’s role to political work, affirming that "the decision of war and peace rests exclusively with the government." Speaking after a Cabinet session in Beirut, Salam said the government “rejects any military or security actions launched from Lebanese territory outside legitimate state institutions,” describing Hezbollah’s recent actions as “a departure from Cabinet decisions.”
“The Lebanese people were expecting a decision to ban the aggression, but instead they were faced with a decision banning the rejection of aggression,” Raad said, adding that Hezbollah’s response “to the ongoing Zionist attacks against free and honorable people and their allies in Lebanon and the region is merely a signal rejecting the path of submission and the deception of the Lebanese into believing that reconciliation with the enemy and yielding to its conditions is the only available way to achieve the illusory Lebanese security and peace.”
Raad described the Lebanese government as “unable to impose peace on the enemy, just as it is unable to engage in resistance against the aggression,” noting that the party understands “its inability in the face of an enemy that violates national sovereignty and poses a continuous threat to the country’s security and stability.” He also said that Hezbollah recognizes the government’s right to decide on matters of war and peace, as well as “its inability to implement that.”
