"We'll Defend Against Jumblatt Govt's Declared War"

Al-Manar TV reports:

Hezbollah Secretary General held a press conference to address recent developments in Lebanon, particularly the tense situation on the street caused by the latest decisions adopted by the unconstitutional government of Fouad Saniora.

Sayyed Nasrallah said that the ruling bloc has pushed the country in a completely new situation. "The decisions of the ruling are declaration of war," his eminence warned.

On the communications network, Sayyed Nasrallah said that communication networks are necessary in every army, every party and militia. "It is a key part of the control and command system which has led us to victory," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "The communications network existed since before the year 2000, but has been upgraded," he added.

Sayyed Nasrallah reminded that the Winograd report recommended the ability of Hezbollah's control and command be destroyed. His eminence clarified that using wireless communication systems has caused the death of many of the resistance's cadres and leaders in previous wars adding that the "resistance's communications network" is a system that connects bases and homes of leaders to avoid tapping and monitoring by the enemy. "Our communications network is not a commercial telephone service, but rather a military communications system that backs the resistance," his eminence emphasized.

JUMBLATT'S GOVERNMENT DECLARED WAR; OUR DUTY IS TO DEFEND OURSELVES

The Hezbollah chief revealed that "a few months ago, the communications network issue was raised by the ruling bloc, so we made contact with them and reassured their fears. We had extended a wire from Beirut's southern suburb to Beirut days after the 2006 war. They told us that their problem was with this particular weapon so we responded and cut the wire. They told us that we were extending wires between Jbeil and Kesserwan and we denied. They told us that we were extending a wire to Tripoli and we denied. They told us that we had extended a wire for communications between Dahiyeh and south Lebanon and we acknowledged. They told us that they fear that we would extend wires to the Chouf area, so we told them that this will never happen. They were reassured. Later on, they told us that they would turn a blind eye on all our communications network if we end the sit-in in downtown Beirut. If we were to agree, would our communications network becomes legitimate? So we refused this blackmail. Apart from this, the unconstitutional of Walid Jumblatt, not Fouad Saniora because he's only an employee to Jumblatt, has again raised this issue. So Jumblatt's government met and took its decisions on that black night."

Sayyed Nasrallah said that the ruling bloc's decision to consider the communications network an aggression against the sovereignty of Lebanon was a declaration of war.

"Jumblatt's government declared proxy war on the resistance for of Israel and the US…This bloc is exposed. One of their goals is to push the Lebanese army into a confrontation with the resistance after all previous conspiracies proved futile. Our response to the decisions is: Whoever launches war against us, even if it were my father, we will confront him and we will defend ourselves and our weapons. The communications network is the most important part of our weapons. After the black decisions of Jumblatt's government, we consider that a war has been launched against us and our duty is to defend ourselves and our weapons; he who warns is excused. All red lines have been crossed, so we will not be lenient with anyone. We have information that says that the communications network is only the first step to strip the resistance of its capabilities.

The unconstitutional government also decided to incriminate everyone who took part in building this network and everyone who uses it. "The network is Hezbollah's, and I'm the party's secretary general, I own the network and I use it. Everyone who worked on it is a Mujahid…It is forbidden to target those people…targeting them is targeting the arms of the resistance," Hezbollah's Secretary General said.

His eminence added that things must be said clearly as the situation has changed after the "black decisions of Jumblatt's government." "He who detains us, we will detain his. He who opens fire at us, we will open fire at him… Walid Jumblatt admitted he's a liar; he admitted he's a killer, so who's ruling the country today? This is not a ruling bloc, this is a gang.

B.G. SHQEIR AND THE AIRPORT ISSUE

On the issue of the airport raised by Jumblatt, Sayyed Nasrallah said the title of this matter is Brigadier General Wafik Shqeir.

"Shqeir does not belong to the Amal Movement, Hezbollah or any other opposition force. The issue is that they want to extend their control on the airport, not to steal because they are already stealing; they want to transform the airport into a Mossad, FBI and CIA base. Therefore, it has become necessary to remove Shqeir. We will not tolerate such bases. His eminence the vice president of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan called up Saniora and told him that if Shqeir had done anything wrong then open an investigation, otherwise why remove him? He was not defending a Shiite officer. When a patriotic officer like Shqeir is removed, other patriotic officers become threatened of sacking. Saniora vowed to do what he can in Shqeir's case, but what can he do; he's just an employee. The decision to remove Shqeir is illegitimate. Any other officer who would take over as the head of the airport security body should know that he would be an imposter who's mission is to transform the airport into a Mossad, CIA, FBI base. Treason and collaboration have no religion.

RULING BLOC CREATED CURRENT CRISIS

Sayyed Nasrallah said that "we will not tolerate targeting our existence and our legitimacy. If they want dialogue to reach a settlement, then we are prepared. The exit is for this is for Jumblatt's unconstitutional government to withdraw its decisions."

"We are not worried about a Sunni-Shiite sedition. The problem is between a US project and a resistance project. In the wake of the July 2006 war, we came under a brutal campaign by politicians, journalists, writers, scholars and others, however they have failed to distort the picture of the resistance. Our weapons are not to attack anyone and not to make a coup d'état. You (ruling bloc) opened fire at your own selves. If we wanted to make a coup, you would have woke up this morning in jails.

Answering a question about how Hezbollah assesses Saudi Arabia's positions, Sayyed Nasrallah expressed hope that the kingdom does not repeat its mistake in 2006 and works wisely by not taking part with a group against the other.

One reporter asked Sayyed Nasrallah about Mufti Kabbani's call for who he called "aggressors" to withdraw from Beirut. His eminence stressed there are no aggressors in the capital and that the people there are residents of Beirut, "the people who live in Beirut and elect in Beirut."

"There is no civil war and reporting the facts are being exaggerated. Yes there is omen of war, but this is the war that the others have imposed. We do not want war with anybody. He who took those black decisions that could lead to war should take them back, and then everything ends."

His eminence stressed "we bargain on elections not on fighting."

"Our resistance is not sectarian…and does not seek power. I'm not asking for support, I'm not asking for help; all I'm asking for is to understand us and not be dragged to the path that would only benefit the US and Israel that is celebrating it's 60th birthday on the ruins of our sanctities."