Hezbollah chief Nasrallah criticizes LAF for not accepting Iranian arms, dismisses calls to disarm his group.
By JPOST.COM STAFFHezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah 390 (R)(photo credit: REUTERS/ Ahmad Shalha)
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday gave credence to the idea that the Second Lebanon War created mutual deterrence between Israel and the guerrilla-terrorist group."What is protecting Lebanon today is the balance of resistance, a balance of terror," the Hezbollah strongman said in a televised speech, the Daily Star reported.Nasrallah also derided the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), both dismissing calls to put his fighters and weaponry under LAF control, and criticizing the Lebanese government for refusing to accept arms from Iran."We all agree that we want a strong army, but is the government [now willing] to accept weapons from Iran for the army?" Iran, he continued, is willing to equip the LAF as it does for Hezbollah but the government will not accept the materiel due to objections from the United States.The US is a major arms supplier of the Lebanese army.The optimal defense strategy for Lebanon, Nasrallah said in a televised speech, "is to have a strong army, a strong resistance party and complete coordination between the two," the Daily Star reported.
