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Siniora Slams Hizbullah "Coup"
Ynet
Lebanese prime minister says he's undeterred by Hizbullah violence, charges Shiite group with carrying out 'armed coup' in Beirut; Siniora says Israel should remain real enemy of his
country, slams Hizbullah for threatening democratic regime
Siniora stands up to Hizbullah: Despite rumors that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora intends to announce his resignation on Saturday, Lebanon's leader says he is
not intimidated by Hizbullah's latest violence.
"What Hizbullah did is a coup," Siniora said Saturday. "Hizbullah has become the problem of all of Lebanon. We are not scared of its weapons."
In his first remarks since the outbreak of violent clashes between Hizbullah men and government supporters, Siniora characterized Hizbullah's actions as an "armed coup."
"Hizbullah and its
allied carried out an armed coup while damaging public property," he said. "The country will not fall in the face of this coup. The people will not accept their liberty being undermined."
'We never declared war on Hizbullah'
Siniora added that "we believed and we still do that the real danger to the country comes from the direction of Israel – our true enemy. However, the experience we are going
through at this time shows that our democratic regime has fallen victims to our homeland brothers."
"We did not underestimate the resistance against Israel, but what is Hizbullah doing in Lebanon?"
Siniora said. "What is it doing on the roads to the airport? Is it controlling the road to Tel Aviv by controlling these roads? Syria is our sister and Israel is the enemy."
According to Siniora, the Lebanese government never declared a war on Hizbullah.
"The government never said it wanted to disarm Hizbullah. All the ethnic groups in Lebanon are partners to this country, yet
Hizbullah decided on its own what he wishes Lebanon's future to look like. Our problem with Hizbullah is that it decides on its own when we shall have war and when we shall have peace. It is the one that decides on Lebanon's
future and fate. This is our major problem with Hizbullah."
Elsewhere, gunmen loyal to Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt kidnapped three Hizbullah men and executed two of them, the al-Jazeera network reported.
No further details were provided.
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