Hizbollah Vows to Keep Weapons, Syria Withdraws

Nadim Ladki, Reuters:

Pro-Syrian Hizbollah guerrillas will keep their weapons despite U.S. calls to disarm and Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, the group's chief said on Wednesday.

The uncompromising stance on weapons for fighters of the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hizbollah, who helped force Israel to end its 22-year occupation of Lebanon in 2000, was set out by the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

"I'm holding on to the weapons of the resistance because I think the resistance ... is the best formula to protect Lebanon and to deter any Israeli aggression," Nasrallah said in a live interview with Hizbollah's al-Manar television. READ MORE

Nasrallah made clear Hizbollah's weapons would be used only against Israel and not internally in Lebanon, which was torn by a 1975-90 civil war, and called again for dialogue between the various political groups in Lebanon.

"Hizbollah's arms will not be used domestically. Their only role is against Israel," he said.

Nasrallah's comments came as President Bush tried to clarify remarks in which he left the door open for Hizbollah to have a political role in Lebanon if it disarmed.

Opposition U.S. Democrats noted after Bush's Tuesday comments that Hizbollah was responsible for the Beirut bombing in 1983 that killed more than 200 U.S. servicemen.

"Hizbollah is on the terrorist list for a reason, and remains on the terrorist list for a reason. Our position's not changed on Hizbollah," Bush said in Washington on Wednesday.

Nasrallah said: "We are ready to remain a terrorist group in the eyes of George Bush to the end of time but we are not ready to stop protecting our country, out people and their blood and their honor."

Bush repeated U.S. demands that Syria withdraw all troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon to allow for free elections in May.

Nasrallah also said that between 20 and 30 Syrian workers had been killed in anti-Syrian attacks since the Feb. 14 assassination of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri, which Lebanon's opposition blamed on Syria. Damascus has denied any role.

"I have information that 20 to 30 Syrian workers have been killed recently ... This is a disgrace," he said.

Tens of thousands of Syrian workers have fled back to Syria since Hariri's death.

Hizbollah brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets last week for pro-Syrian rallies, showing its muscle in Lebanon, where it has parliament members and runs charities.

Witnesses said Syrian intelligence officers moved out of their Beirut headquarters in the seafront Ramlet al-Baida district. A small bulldozer demolished two guard posts while trucks loaded office equipment and drove away.

Syrian forces have almost completed the first phase of a withdrawal from Lebanon announced 11 days ago. More than 4,000 soldiers returned home last week, while 2,000 have redeployed eastwards to the Bekaa Valley, Lebanese security sources said.

Almost all intelligence offices across north Lebanon and the mountains east of Beirut were also vacated overnight, security sources said. They said 150 to 200 officers had moved to eastern Lebanon or returned directly to Syria.

But in Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli questioned whether Syrian agents were actually leaving Lebanon. Asked if the United States was encouraged at reports of the agents' pullout, Ereli told reporters: "To where?"

He said "it's kind of hard to know" if all the intelligence agents were being moved back to Syria.

Syria's often feared intelligence apparatus has been a key element in its political and military influence on Lebanon since its troops first intervened early in Lebanon's civil war.