US interests around the globe may be attacked if the United States attempts to eradicate Hizbullah, according to the leader of the Lebanese movement. In his first interview with a British newspaper for five years, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah rejected Washington’s classification of his group as a "terrorist organization," saying that the Bush Administration did not possess the moral authority to define terrorism.
“Hizbullah is a Lebanese resistance group. It has fought and is ready to fight,” Sheikh Nasrallah was quoted as saying by The Times on Monday. “Hizbullah has offered martyrs and is ready to offer more martyrs to defend its people and country.”
According to Sheikh Nasrallah, it is the Bush Administration that is the real terrorist organization.
“We believe that the American Administration has always exercised terrorist and aggressive policies and backed terrorist groups and regimes,” he said, citing the training of Osama bin Laden and his fighters by the CIA against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
“The chemical weapons used by the Iraqis against Iranian forces in al-Faw peninsula and in Halabja were provided by the Americans,” he added. “The American Administration is a sponsor of terrorism, so ethically and legally it is not qualified to categorise terrorism.”
During the interview, Sheikh Nasrallah delivered a clear warning that Hizbullah would fight back if it felt that its survival was in jeopardy. “In such a case Hizbullah has a right to defend its existence, its people and its country through any means and at any time and in any place,” he warned. (Albawaba.com)
