Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stressed the goal of the uproar over the alleged Scud Missiles transfer from Syria to Hezbollah “is to pressure Syria and Hezbollah and to prevent us as a resistance from defending ourselves.”

Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking during an interview with the Kuwaiti television Al-Rai on Thursday. “Their campaign has failed because Syria has denied the claim and Hezbollah traditionally does not comment on such issues,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.

His eminence asked about the implications of such campaigns on the Israelis on the moral and psychological levels. He added that “this is in our interest, and all those who support the resistance have become more reassured because we’ve said that we’ll defend ourselves and Lebanon and that we’ll strike their infrastructures if they target ours.”

Sayyed Nasrallah underlined that the resistance is capable of fulfilling its commitments to defend the country. “In July 2006 the resistance proved it possesses defensive capabilities and the enemy was stunned to see what had taken place because they did not expect to face a resistance of this kind. We will not allow them to target our cities. There are red lines and we’ll hit back and we are capable of it, however we do not discuss the nature of the weapons we’ll be using.”

The Hezbollah chief said the picture taken in Damascus (President Bashar Assad, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Sayyed Nasrallah) was enough to send a message that the circumstances in the region have changed. “I assure that any new Israeli war will be an adventure with uncalculated results for the Israeli side and will eventually change the face of this region…My brothers and I believe that this intimidation does not entail a war.”

On the assassination of Resistance commander martyr Imad Moghnieh, Sayyed Nasrallah said that vengeance for his death is a matter of time. “I can’t say that operations to avenge martyr Moghnieh’s death had taken place and failed and the Azabeijan issue is a different issue. I assure that the Islamic Resistance will not be lax in avenging him. We are engaged in a battle with the Israeli enemy and when our leaders get killed anywhere we will have the right to respond in the framework of the ongoing battle. Speaking of vengeance bares some tolerance in its meaning. If we sought after vengeance by killing Israeli tourists we would have been able to so easily but we do not look at the issue from this perspective. We know where to respond and when to respond and who to target. The Israelis know this and it is only a matter of time.”

Speaking about National Dialogue in Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah said that “our ally, General Michel Aoun threatened to withdraw from the dialogue to protest the attack on the arms of the resistance and its intentions.” He added: “General Aoun expressed resentment from this rhetoric. Hezbollah’s representative was very clear when he told the other camp that if they wanted to bring the issue to the media, there was no problem and if they wanted to tackle it around a round table there was no problem either. Some say that the arms of the resistance give Israel the pretext to wage war on Lebanon. We condemn this rhetoric because it contradicts the simplest axioms. We cannot accept giving legitimacy to an Israeli assault on Lebanon and our people. True, there is an historic difference that dates back to the establishment of the resistance. Some political powers never believed that Israel was an enemy, and this difference in ideologies was present even before I was born. The only way to resolve this difference is through a national dialogue. This is why we were the first to present our vision on this matter. Some groups have declared through written statements that they insist on raising the arms issue to establish that it is a controversial matter. The resistance has never had consensus in any country at any time and Lebanon is not a special case. The resistance in 1982 did not enjoy consensus as there were parties who were in the same camp with the Israelis fighting for them. “

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed the resistance in Lebanon was strong especially after the 2000 Israeli withdrawal from most of Lebanon and victory in the 2006 war with Israel. He added that the arms of the resistance were not and will not be used in Lebanon to change an internal political equation or to change the constitution. “The resistance won the war but we did not ask for power and we never sought after it. Everybody remember May 25, 2000 when I spoke in Bint Jbeil. I said that what we achieved was our obligation and we didn’t want anything in return. We called on the Lebanese army to have full reign in south Lebanon, we never asked for a constitutional amendment to change the sectarian distribution of powers in Lebanon…Our experience is enough evidence that Hezbollah’s ambitions is not based on sectarian interests, in fact it is founded on national interests and I admit that Lebanon cannot stay separated from the Palestinian cause.

Speaking about the May 7, 2008 incidents in Beirut, the Hezbollah chief explained that what happened was to reverse an unjust decision by then PM Fouad Saniora’s government that was aimed at the arms of the resistance, namely its communications network which played a major role in defeating Israeli in the 2006 war. “Some ex-March 14 figures admit that those decisions were a strategic mistake. That government attacked us and it sought to ignite sedition between the army and the resistance. We were not represented in the government. When the Arab delegation arrived in Beirut we told them that our only demands were to reverse the decisions and sit around the national dialogue table, nothing else. We did not set conditions on electing a new president or on giving Saniora another term as PM. Our arms were not and will not be use in Lebanon to change equations. Our arms are to defend Lebanon and the resistance, and we do not tolerate attacking our arms because our weapons are legitimate according to all standards.”

On the investigations committee probing the assassination of former PM martyr Rafiq Hariri, Sayyed Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah did not trust the panel. “We have evidence that lead us not to trust the panel as well as the tribunal itself. If the committee does not prove it is conducting a technical and serious investigation we will reconsider cooperating with it. Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq has made a couple of statements and for the first time he implicated Hezbollah cadres in the crime. Siddiq is a false witness who deluded the investigation panel and the whole world and his false testimony led to the detention of four generals, the death of dozens of Syrian workers in Lebanon, and could have led to war in the region. He is still at large and the spokeswoman of the tribunal says that the court has nothing to do with Siddiq. How come? We will formally ask the Lebanese government to arrest Siddiq wherever he was, whether in the UAE or in the Netherlands. We have to know who was behind him, who gave him passports, who provided shelter for him, and who has been funding him. We do not believe in making a balance between justice and stability in Lebanon.  We have to be convinced that this investigation is being conducted to learn the truth and to establish justice. “

His eminence added that “if Le French Figaro was right and after it the Kuwaiti Assiyasiyya and then the German Der Spiegel and now the French Le Monde, then there is no need for an investigation, because the bill of accusation is ready against Hezbollah. We refuse any accusation Hezbollah, be it the party as a whole or members of it. There is a Israeli Mossad agent who is sentenced to death who confessed of picking up Israeli handbags full of explosives and that he used to deliver them to certain locations. Were those explosives used in some attacks or not? There are threads that lead to Israel, but there is a trend to rule out Israel from the assassination of Hariri and this is an insult to the martyr.”

Addressing Kuwaitis, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed all plots to dominate this region and the Israeli project have failed and they are nearing their end. “The last draw is to incite sedition between Shiites and Sunnis. There are some Shiites and some Sunnis who are involved in this sedition plot and they know they are. This is why I call on all Muslims to realize the danger behind this project.

His eminence said that the verdicts in Egypt against the freedom fighters who were offering support to the resistance in the Gaza Strip are politicized and unfair.  He added that “when those brothers were arrested in Egypt, we stressed – and I’ve said this personally – that those are honest resistance fighters, not outlaws, criminals, and terrorists as the judge described them. They are honest people and their only crime is that they were supporting their brothers in Gaza and giving help to the legitimate Palestinian resistance which should be embraced by everybody. Those men were fulfilling their duty and everything beside this are mere fabrications to cover the measures that were taken against them.”

Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the detained resistance men and their families: “When you chose the path of backing the Palestinian people, you knew that you could be arrested or maybe killed as martyrs at any time. What you have gone through in Jail and the sentences that have been issued today is a badge of honor on your chests.”

The Hezbollah chief added: “For Arab and Muslim peoples to know that we get detained and jailed because we believe that Allah is our God and we only abide by His order to support our brothers in Palestine and Gaza is something to be very proud of. I don’t see in this any loss for any Arab depth. On the contrary, this confirms the credibility of our position and commitment to the Palestinian people. Of course, we seek more support to them, but even this much backing is costing us. Yet, this is all under Allah’s eyes and for His sake.”

He continued: “Of course the doors are not closed in Egypt, and we are surely not going to let those brothers in prison. We will follow up this case even if a sentence was issued, and we’ll seek to resolve the matter as we did in the past, through legal and judicial channels…This case is no longer a judicial matter, so perhaps the only available exits are political ones.” “We will seek, through political and diplomatic channels to resolve this issue, establish our brothers’ rights, and not letting them in prison,” he added.

At the end of the interview, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed “this current stage requires communication and dialogue between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. We should focus on common point, not on matters that leave us apart. We have so much in common and our interest is one. We are targets, particularly when we speak about plots and schemes seeking to plunder our riches and separate us.”

His eminence warned that “What is taking place in occupied Palestine is extremely dangerous and it threatens our nation,” suggesting that all Muslims gather around this common cause.