LONDON, 12 April 2007 — The US government is waging a “covert war” against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah by arming militias in Lebanon opposed to the resistance group, a Hezbollah leader said in comments published yesterday. In an interview with Britain’s Guardian daily from a safe house in southern Beirut, Sheikh Naim Qassim, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, also did not rule out a new conflict between his resistance group and Israel.
US Vice President “Dick Cheney has given orders for a covert war against Hezbollah,” Qassim was quoted as saying. “There is now an American program that is using Lebanon to further its goals in the region.” The newspaper cited published reports saying US intelligence agencies are authorized to provide “nonlethal” funding to anti-Hezbollah groups in Lebanon and to activists who support the Western-backed government of Fouad Siniora.
However, Qassim accused Prime Minister Siniora’s government of going further and arming groups across Lebanon. “This happens with the knowledge of the prime minister and is facilitated by the security forces under his command,” Qassim was quoted as saying.
