'Jalili visited Beirut to support Iran's proxy, Hezbollah'

JPost

A Lebanese MP has dubbed this week's visit by Saeed Jalili, the head of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, to Beirut a deliberate message of support for Iran's proxy Hezbollah, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Wednesday.

In an interview with Al-Seyassah, MP Fadi Karam of the Lebanese Forces (LF) Party said Jalili's visit was primarily aimed at expressing support for Hezbollah and also for Syrian president Bashar Assad's regime, which he said is on the verge of collapse.

LF is the second largest Christian party in Lebanon's parliament and is a member of the anti-Syrian March 14 coalition bloc.

Karam said he believed there was a link between the timing of Jalili's visit to Beirut and a recent speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at the Shi'ite group's Annual Central Iftar event, in which he criticized the country's March 14 alliance bloc for pressuring Hezbollah to transfer its weapons to the Lebanese Army.

The March 14 alliance, which includes Karam's party and which won the most seats in Lebanon's 2009 general elections, is opposed to the Assad regime in Syria, and has pushed for Hezbollah to be disarmed including because of worries that Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles might fall into Hezbollah's hands.

In June, Lebanese political leaders resumed talks aimed at solving the issue of Hezbollah's weapons. However, last month Lebanese president Michel Suleiman postponed the talks after March 14 said it would boycott the session over Hezbollah's refusal to discuss its arms.

In Nasrallah's Iftar speech, the Hezbollah leader said his party was "interested in reaching a real defense strategy that protects Lebanon" and that Israel would not attack Lebanon because it was afraid of Hezbollah. Nasrallah also said that Israel was violating Lebanese airspace "on a daily basis" and that Lebanon must liberate the Shebaa Farms.

Referring to the Iftar speech, Karam told al-Seyassah that Jalili's visit to Beirut was intended to "convey the message both domestically and abroad that there is no such thing as a Lebanese state… [Jalili's] presence in Lebanon is to support the existence of the Hezbollah mini-state, which [Iran] considers an extension of its own interests in the region."

Lebanon's Future Movement, the largest member of March 14, said Tuesday that Nasrallah had "dumped the only item on the National Dialog agenda" by refusing to give up Hezbollah's military arsenal.

Karam's comments came after Lebanon's former premier Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party and Druse community leader Walid Jumblatt slammed Jalili's visit to Beirut on Monday.

In a Wednesday report on Jalili's discussions with Nasrallah, the Arabic service of Iran's state news agency, IRNA, said the Hezbollah leader and the Iranian official discussed the latest political developments in the region, and particularly in Lebanon and Syria.

The report, which did not mention any discussion of weapons, cited Hezbollah's media relations department and said that Jalili had met with Nasrallah following talks on Syria with Lebanese president Michel Sleiman and other senior officials.

During his visit Jalili also participated in an event at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, to celebrate International Qods [Jerusalem] Day, IRNA reported.

Qods Day, set for August 17, is an anti-Zionist event first introduced in Iran by Ayatollah Khomenei in 1979. Iran promotes the event in several countries in the Arab world.

According to IRNA, Jalili also celebrated Iranian Journalists' Day in Beirut. Iran ranks fourth - behind Eritrea, Syria and North Korea - in the top ten list of most censored countries in the world.