Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Qabalan. (Credit: NNA)
Jaafari Mufti Ahmad Qabalan on Sunday addressed a "message" to President Joseph Aoun, in which he urged him to beware of the "warmongering rhetoric" of Hezbollah's detractors. The party refuses to hand its arms over to the state, and its leader threatened on Friday a possible "confrontation" if the government insisted on trying to remove its arsenal.
In his letter, the mufti stated that the situation was "extremely grave for the survival of Lebanon as a nation surrounded by international and regional wolves, hungry on all sides." The religious dignitary, considered close to Hezbollah, said that the party's weapons "in partnership with the army" were an "essential necessity."
"We can only stick to this national truth, even if we are threatened with a nuclear bomb," he said. Paying tribute to the president, whom he said is regarded by the resistance as a "national leader who understands the strengths and weaknesses of this country," he stated that "the resistance belongs to national sovereignty, not to a single community."
"This is a time for national solidarity, for preventing an explosion, for protecting the Lebanese family from division and barricades," he said, noting that "international and regional pressures have no value against national solidarity." The international community, led by the United States, is pressuring the government to disarm Hezbollah, and on Aug. 7 the government adopted a roadmap prepared by Washington aimed at ensuring respect for the terms of the cease-fire, including, among other things, the disarmament of militias.
Denouncing that one of the "camps" in Lebanon is "obsessed with blood, barricades, sectarian hatreds and massacres on an identity basis," he called on President Aoun to be wary: "Nothing is more dangerous in this crucial period than warmongering rhetoric and explosive hatred."
Qabalan also called on the president to rely on the "precious and sincere advice" of Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, "a cross-sectarian figure," as he described him.
"What others cannot do, Nabih Berri can," he said.
