Sheikh Qassem: Hezbollah Hasn’t Voiced Final Position on STL Yet

In an interview with Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai to be published on Thursday, Sheikh Qassem noted that all Hezbollah wants is for the tribunal not to  become an American tool and not be politicized. “We have waited in announcing our final position in line with the calm that was called for by the Saudi-Syrian-Lebanese summit in order to give a chance to tackle the tribunal’s wrong course in its indictment.”

Sheikh Qassem stressed, meanwhile, that Hezbollah was committed to calls to maintain civil peace and reject sectarian rhetoric alongside keeping the national unity government. His eminence found strange how some politicians portrayed the criticism of the performance of the Prime Minister as a campaign against the Sunnis in Lebanon.

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General renewed commitment to fair and just judiciary, rejecting the request made by General Prosecutor Said Mirza to summon former General Security Chief Jamil As-Sayyed. “Why didn’t the judiciary act when former President Emil Lahoud was insulted and threatened day and night by some politicians? Why didn’t the judiciary summon those who insulted President Michel Sleiman? Why didn’t the judiciary sue those who threatened the Resistance and sought strife and sedition in the country?” Sheikh Qassem wondered.

Answering a question about a “mediation” launched by Speaker Nabih Berri and MP Walid Jumblatt, Sheikh Qassem said that the two leaders were seeking to bring closer the stances of Hezbollah and the Future movement. “There’s nothing specific yet,” his eminence noted, adding that Hezbollah was brave enough to say whatever it want. “The meeting between Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and PM Saad Hariri was not on the agenda during the latest discussions. It might be on the agenda in the future.”

While recalling how the false witnesses played a negative role and harmed the country’s ties with neighbor countries, Sheikh Qassem stressed the need to find out who are behind them, who fabricated them, who taught them, who financed them, who protected them. “False witnesses are tools after all.”