Global Arab Network | Hezbollah says Iran may provide military aid

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Hezbollah says Iran may provide military aid

The Hezbollah movement in Lebanon has suggested it will seek Iranian military help for the army if its political alliance wins elections next month.

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has said that Iran is ready to provide support to the country's military.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, and in particular Ayatollah Khamenei, will not hold back on anything that will help Lebanon be a strong and dignified state, and without conditions," Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday.

Nasrallah also urged voters to back his opposition alliance against the Western-backed parliamentary majority in elections on June 7, saying his coalition would ensure that the army was able to defend Lebanon against Israel.

The televised address was made to mark the ninth anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after 22 years.

"Air defence systems are necessary for the army to face Israel," Nasrallah told a crowd of thousands of supporters in the eastern town of Baalbek.

"Who can secure these weapons for Lebanon? Vote for the opposition and I will point you in that direction," he said.

Nasrallah criticised the United States, which has supplied nearly $500,000 in training and armaments to the Lebanese army since 2005 but does not provide anti-aircraft defences.

Nasrallah also said Lebanon and Israel could become involved in armed conflict again, although he called the possibility "far off," Ynetnews reported.

Nasrallah also accused Israel of interfering in the elections, repeating his accusation that it was behind a report in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine accusing Hezbollah of involvement in the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister.

Nasrallah accused Israel of trying to create sectarian conflict in Lebanon by blaming Hezbollah for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A story suggesting evidence points to Hezbollah ran recently in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

"Why are they scared?" he asked.

"They are scared because a win for the opposition means that the systematic programme of targeting, besieging and isolating the resistance in Lebanon in an attempt to dissolve it, has failed."

Many in the audience of thousands chanted "Death to Israel" during the speech. (AP, ABC, UPI)

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