Report: Hezbollah Voices Opposition to Lebanon’s Partnership in Anti-ISIL Coalition

The Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, voiced its opposition to Lebanon’s participation in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“Hezbollah is opposed to Lebanon’s presence in the anti-ISIL coalition led by the US and Saudi Arabia and created with the partnership of those countries supporting the Takfiri terrorist groups,” the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar quoted a source close to Hezbollah as saying on the condition of anonymity on Monday.

NATO heads of state convened in the Welsh city of Newport on 4-5 September and US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told foreign and defense ministers participating in the NATO summit that the US was forming a broad international coalition against ISIL.

Ministers from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Denmark met in Wales to hammer out a strategy for battling ISIL, but the policy was questioned by many regional officials and political leaders.

After the so-called US-led coalition against the ISIL declared its creation, Iran also lashed out at the western states for pursuing a double-standard policy towards campaign against terrorism in various countries.

“Iran believes in a real and nonselective fight against terrorism in the region and the world,” Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Saturday.

Amir Abdollahian stressed that the Islamic Republic was the first country to assist Iraq in the fight against terrorism.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister also stated that Tehran will continue to fully support Iraq and Syria in the battle against terrorism.

Also, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani on Saturday questioned the goals pursued by the US-led anti-ISIL coalition, and said Washington sought to violate the regional countries’ sovereignty.

“The US attempts to create an anti-terrorism coalition in collaboration with certain states which are themselves the main sponsors and suppliers of the terrorists are suspicious and lack transparency,” Shamkhani said, addressing a gathering of Iranian clerics in the Central city of Qom.

“The US seeks to continue its unilateralism and violate the countries’ sovereignty under the pretext of fighting terrorism,” he added.

Shamkhani underlined that Washington was also attempting to distract the world attention from the pivotal role that the US and its allies had played in the establishment, equipment and development of the terrorist groups under the pretext of overthrowing the legal government in Syria.

He said the United States’ move to form an anti-ISIL coalition was more like a Hollywood scenario to portray the US as a savior of the region.