Sayyed Nasrallah says Hezbollah forces ready to leave Iraq after ISIS defeat

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Hezbollah was ready to pull its forces from Iraq after defeating the so-called ISIL during a televised address in Beirut on Monday.

“IS has suffered the required defeat and there is no need for the presence of this number of leaders and fighters of Hezbollah in Iraq,” Nasrallah said. Hezbollah fighters leaving Iraq would, therefore “return to join any arena that requires them to do so,” the group’s leader added. Nasrallah stated that “history can record the end of IS,” with the liberation of the Syrian town of Boukamal.

Speaking the day after an Arab League meeting in Cairo once again defined Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, Nasrallah called Hezbollah an “essential partner in establishing stability and security in Lebanon.” He denied it sending weapons, not even “a gun,” to Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait or “any Arab country.”

Nasrallah’s declarations came at a time of escalating tensions between regional rivals Iran – a Hezbollah ally – and Saudi Arabia, exacerbated by the Yemeni war and the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh on November 4. Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned accusing Iran and Hezbollah of meddling in the affairs of Arab states.

 Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General (Arabic): “Waiting for the final victory, God willing, we will review the situation with the brothers there, and if we find that it has been completed and there is no need to have these brothers there, they will return to join any arena that requires them to do so. Therefore, in the Iraqi issue, we will have a new mission for Hezbollah and its participation. Pending the announcement of the final victory of Iraq, we will take the necessary steps and this has nothing to do with the statement of the Arab foreign ministers or with any other issue.

This has to do with the fact that IS has suffered the required defeat and there is no need for the presence of this number of leaders and fighters of Hezbollah in Iraq.”

Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General (Arabic): “We did not send weapons neither to Yemen nor to Bahrain or Kuwait. Isn’t there a big battle in Iraq? We did not send weapons to Iraq. They don’t need weapons. We did not send weapons to any Arab country. Since you are talking about Arab countries, no ballistic missiles or developed weapons or even a gun.”

Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General (Arabic): “We can say today that, with the liberation of every street, alley or neighborhood in the city of Boukamal, history can record the end of IS.”

Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General (Arabic): “Hezbollah is an essential partner in establishing stability and security in Lebanon, playing a role in facing Israeli cells and terrorist cells inside Lebanon.”