“Hezbollah’s overriding goal is Lebanon’s security,” Nasrallah

BEIRUT , May 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Hezbollah rebuffed Sunday, May 4, the “dictations” made by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who demanded Syria restrict the activities of the resistance movement.

“He appears as if he is the spokesman for the Zionist government,” Hussein al-Khalil, the political adviser to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, told the movement’s Al-Manar satellite channel.

“Hezbollah is not a militia. It is proud of its resistance, which helped Lebanon achieve victory (the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon in April 2000 ),” added Khalil.

Khalil said the Lebanese army in the south “maintains the security of the Lebanese people and will never accept to be cast in the mould of the cop who protects Israel ’s security as desired by the U.S. ”

“Powell exercises pressures (on Syria and Lebanon ) to do what Israel failed to do over the past years,” he said, adding that Powell was trying to “draw up the final touches” of a U.S. scheme started with the occupation of Iraq .

“The word withdrawal cannot be found in Hezbollah dictionary, since it means erasing Lebanon from the political landscape of the Middle East ,” he said.

He said Hezbollah’s overriding concern is “ Lebanon ’s security,” noting that Powell should be preoccupied with Israel ’s occupation of some of the Lebanese territories and not with Hezbollah’s resistance.

On Saturday, May 3, Powell denounced "anti-Israeli" groups and called for the Lebanese army to end Hezbollah's presence on the Israeli border.

Powell also said the Syrian authorities had told him during meetings in Damascus that they had closed the offices of some of the so called anti-Israeli groups.

However, Leading Palestinian factions denied Saturday that their offices in Syria had been closed down.