Tense situation in Lebanon

For a political perspective on the conflict make sure you read the analysis provided by Elie Fawaz, Lee Smith, Tony Badran and Michael Young.

Pictures speak more than words.

The conflict in Sheikh Nasrallah's words

• The government is a cover for Terje Roed-Larsen and UNSCR 1559. That is its basic description. We have the right to defend our existence from whoever declares and begins a war on us, even if they are our brothers.

• The network is part of the resistance. I said, before Jumblatt, that any hand that reaches for the resistance and its arms will be cut off. Israel tried that in the July War, and we cut its hand off. We do not advise you to try us. Whoever is going to target us will be targeted by us. Whoever is going to shoot at us will be shot by us.

• We will not allow the airport to serve the CIA and Mossad, point blank.

• Who pushed the country into this crisis? They did. We are patient. We were fought, and we were patient.

• When they made their decisions, they created the current crisis. We are in a new phase. Am I declaring war? Not at all. I am declaring oppression and self-defense.

• The point is that there is a team serving the US to do what the US and Israel failed to do, and that is stripping us of the resistance's arms.

There are two options.

• In the one hand, we have the chance to go to Speaker Berri's dialogue table.

• On the other hand – and I’ve said this inside Hizbullah – we would never take over the government, even if we were invited to so, for we cannot build the country alone.

• We do not want to attack anyone or start a revolution. If we wanted to stage a coup, you would have woken up this morning in prison, or in the middle of the sea. We do not want that. It is a political issue, with a political solution through early elections.

• To exit this crisis, the illegitimate government's decisions must be revoked and we must head for dialogue. Obstinacy will have another solution.

[NEW TV correspondent: You usually keep your promises, and today you promise to cut off hands… If you are going to defend your arms by cutting off hands, will the nation die and the resistance live? Secondly, you say the government made the decision for war. But when the opposition responds, it only uses the street… There are those who expect the airport to be renamed the Hassan Nasrallah International airport…]

• Our response was not a military revolution. Yes, we hit the streets, protested, cut off roads and blocked the airport. This is civil disobedience as it occurs in any country. We did not occupy Beirut, as some people are chanting, nor do we want to attack anyone. But we were shot at in the street, and we shot back. We did not shoot at the government's decision….

• Secondly, who will the government send to destroy our communication network? …The army and ISF. I will not fight the army and ISF… so we went to the street to fight this decision… The issue of the roads and the airport will be dealt with day by day. I do not want to unveil any scenarios. The government was afraid of our arms.

• Unlike what Berlusconi is saying, that he will have to change the rules of engagement, we and the UNIFIL are cooperating totally and we have not changed our policy in that sense.

• I hope that our brothers in Saudi Arabia will not make the same mistake they made in the July War… in our internal issues, they should not be partisan. The route to a solution is quite obvious. We do not want to take over power, nor do we want to start a coup.

• The Security Council has been given a new article by the Jumblatt government, so I am not really concerned with its hearing today… It protects the unparalleled monstrous state of Israel. No, it is not certain that we are headed for a July 2008. We were not calling for civilian disobedience. Then a war was declared against us. When the declaration ends, the disobedience ends.

• We are a guarantee against civil war; Amal is a guarantee against civil war; the Sunni spiritual leaders are a guarantee against civil war. I want to tell the Future Movement that no one is here to cancel you out. Walid Jumblatt's dream is Sunni-Shia strife. We will not fulfil his dream.

• We do not want to change the structure of Lebanon, and we are committed to the Taif Accord.

• There is a bet that the face of the region will change if Israel attacks Lebanon. I know what we have, who we have, and our capacities… After Mugnieh's death, I warned Israel against invading Lebanon. I have stationed five militant groups on the border, and they are still there for protection… I promised the Arab and Islamic world that I would not launch war with or on anyone