Beirut – “Hezbollah” MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi created an uproar in Lebanon when he threatened that the party would resort to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards should a new war erupt with Israel.
The reactions to the remarks have been limited to certain factions of the Lebanese politicians, while it was clear that the main leaders, especially the party’s partners in government, chose to ignore them.
This was interpreted as their resignation that the issue of “Hezbollah” was no longer a local one, but it was linked to regional and international decisions.
Mario Aoun, whose Free Patriotic Movement is allied with the party, hoped that Moussawi had not made his remarks during this time, while the Mustaqbal Movement’s Mustafa Alloush urged President Michel Aoun to make a clear stand on the issue.
Moussawi made his remarks in wake of criticism directed against “Hezbollah” chief Hassan Nasrallah’s latest speech.
Moussawi had said that thousands of fighters from Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine were prepared to join the Lebanese and Syrian fronts to deter any possible Israeli assault.
“The party has the right to rally its allies in a battle where the enemy will rally all of its allies. As we have fought together with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria and the Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq, we will fight together as one alliance in Lebanon if the enemy attacked us,” he continued.
Mario Aoun said that assumptions should not be made based on these statements, “which are ultimately strategic rather than political.”
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We had hoped that such alarming statements would not have been made at this current time given the dialogue that was recently held at the presidential palace.”
He noted that “Hezbollah’s” stance was a response to Israeli provocation, hoping that the threat will not be translated into action.
For his part, Alloush questioned the lack of official reaction to Moussawi’s declaration, asking: “We may not be capable of confronting ‘Hezbollah’ with weapons, but can we not respond to it politically?”
“Moussawi and ‘Hezbollah’ do not speak in the name of the government or Lebanon, but in the name of Iran,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that the remarks were a form of “political mockery.”
“The fighters that Nasrallah and Moussawi are talking about are not ghosts and they can only arrive in Lebanon through crossing the Syrian border, which is controlled by the US-led International Coalition,” he explained.
Head of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea said that Nasrallah’s “escalatory” statements contradict the positive atmosphere brought about by the approval of a new parliamentary electoral law and the presidential palace consultative meeting.
Political sources from the March 14 camp questioned why “Hezbollah” was dealing “blow after blow” at the president only months after he came to power, starting with the Qusair military parade and the criticism against Saudi Arabia shortly after the president paid a visit to it.
The sources told Lebanon’s Markazia news agency: “Nasrallah’s stance indicates that he still sees himself as larger than the Lebanese state. The policy of disassociation that the government has adopted does not concern him … He alone holds the decision to go to war or make peace, disregarding Lebanon’s interests or the repercussions of his actions.”
“The new presidential term is the first victim of these practices, whose president is insisting that its main goals be restoring the lost dignity of the state,” added the sources.
“This raises questions over ‘Hezbollah’s’ seriousness in making Michel Aoun’s presidency a success,” they said.