Hezbollah vows to continue arming itself

Beirut - A Hezbollah member of parliament in Lebanon has vowed that the militant Shiite movement will continue to build its arsenal, media reports said Wednesday.

"Our choice was and remains to secure all the arms of resistance that we can," Hassan Fadlallah was quoted as saying by the Lebanese daily As-Safir.

Fadlallah was hitting back at a statement by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday accusing Iran and Syria of arming Hezbollah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles, which he said undermined stability in the region.

"There is a big difference between arms which only serve invasions, occupations and aggressions, such as those of the United States and its ally Israel ... and the arms of a resistance which defends, protects, and liberates," Fadlallah said.

Israel and the US have accused Syria of supplying Hezbollah with Scud missiles, which are capable of striking deep into Israel. Both Beirut and Damascus have denied this.

Speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, who has close links with Hezbollah, said Gates' statement aims to cover up the recent souring of US-Israeli relations, the An-Nahar newspaper reported Wednesday.

Relations between the US and Israel reportedly cooled after Israel announced it would build 1,600 new houses in settlements in East Jerusalem. Washington viewed the move as undermining its efforts to re-launch the Middle East peace process.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a 33-day conflict in the summer of 2006. More than 1,200 people, mostly Lebanese civilians, were killed and some 165 Israelis, most of them soldiers, also died.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320965,hezbollah-vows-to-continue-arming-itself.html.