Region | Lebanon

Cleric slams calls to expel Iranian envoy

The vice president of the Higher Shiite Council, Shaikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, on Monday denounced the accusations politicians were throwing at each other, referring to the latest polemic concerning surveillance cameras erected by Hezbollah to monitor Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.

  • Gulf News Report
  • Published: 00:43 May 9, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • The vice president of the Higher Shiite Council, Shaikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, on Monday denounced the accusations politicians were throwing at each other, referring to the latest polemic concerning surveillance cameras erected by Hezbollah to monitor Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.
  • Image Credit: Reuters

Dubai: The vice president of the Higher Shiite Council, Shaikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, on Monday denounced the accusations politicians were throwing at each other, referring to the latest polemic concerning surveillance cameras erected by Hezbollah to monitor Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.

Qabalan said Hezbollah's only "crime" was its resistance against Israel.

He added that "whoever thinks that the airport's head of security and security system could be removed is delusional".

Qabalan denounced the call for Iran's envoy to be expelled, saying that Iran was "our greatest ally in the region".

'Tone it down'

He then called on politicians to tone down their "offensive" speeches and try using more rational rhetoric to preserve the country's unity, sovereignty and independence.

Senior Shiite cleric Saeed Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah said Lebanon will remain the scene of "international political and confessional interests". Fadlallah also slammed international interference in Lebanon's domestic affairs. He added that friendly countries should lighten the national debt instead of dividing the country's people.

"In fact," Fadlallah said, "we now have an American Lebanon, a Saudi Lebanon, a Syrian Lebanon or an Iranian Lebanon and so on and so forth."

The cleric also stressed the importance of universities in fighting racism, adding that these institutions should not tolerate internal political conflicts.

- Source: www.dailystar.com.lb

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