Friday, 18 February 2005The leader of Hizbullah denied Thursday that his group has been funding Palestinian terrorist organization and sending activists to Iraq.
"We have no organization or networks either in Iraq or anywhere else in the world," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told hundreds of followers attending a Shiite Muslim service of Ashoura in the southern Beirut suburb of Harat Hreik.
Israeli and Palestinian officials charged last week that Hizbullah was trying to disrupt the cease-fire they declared on Feb. 8. Palestinian security officials have accused Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran, of sending large amounts of money to militants in the West Bank, encouraging them to step up attacks on Israel.
Iraqi Interior Falah Hassn al-Naqib said early this month that his government has detained 16 Hizbullah members.
"Let Iraq utter the full name of even one of them," Nasrallah said Thursday.
"If there any outfits in the world that carry the name of Hizbullah, they are not an extension of us," Nasrallah said. "With all modesty, we know our limits and we know our capabilities. We also know our responsibilities well and we never transgress them."
Previously Hizbullah spokesman Mohammed Afif had dismissed the accusation that his group was trying to wreck the Israeli-Palestinian truce, saying such charges were "part of an American-Israeli campaign against Hizbullah."
Hizbullah is on the US list of terrorist organizations. But the Lebanese government regards it as a legitimate movement that is fighting Israeli troops in Chebaa Farms, a disputed parcel of land on Lebanon's southeastern border. |
Friday, 18 February 2005
Associated Press via Jerusalem Post
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