Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah calls for political solution to Syrian crisis

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says the issue of Syria should be resolved politically and without any foreign interference.

“I call on Syrians to lay down arms and start a political process,” Nasrallah said during a televised address to crowds of people in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Syria has been plagued by a deadly unrest since mid-March 2011, when protest rallies erupted for and against President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse Damascus of a deadly crackdown on protesters and blamed the country’s security forces for the year-long turmoil. The Syrian government, however, blames terrorist elements for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad.

“We condemn all acts of violence in Syria,” Nasrallah stated, and called an end to bloodshed in the neighboring Arab nation.

Nasrallah said the latest developments in Syria show that hopes for the fall of President Assad, or for the army to turn against the government, are futile. He also stressed that more sanctions on the country will not lead to any result.

The Hezbollah chief also criticized the international community for turning a blind eye to the revolution in Bahrain, where anti-regime protests have been brutally repressed. The crackdown intensified after mid-March last year, when Saudi Arabia led a deployment of troops and military personnel by a number of neighboring Arab countries upon a request from Manama to help quash the popular uprising in the island nation.

Speaking about the Israeli attacks on Gaza, Nasrallah praised the Palestinian resistance for standing in solidarity during Israel’s attacks on the impoverished strip.

He blamed some Arab countries and their media for siding with Israel and holding the Palestinian resistance movement responsible for the Israeli attacks.

Hezbollah’s leader further accused Western-run media outlets of “spreading lies” about the Lebanese resistance movement. “Media have launched a psychological war against the resistance,” he noted.

Nasrallah also addressed the bickering among political parties in Lebanon and called on Lebanese factions to hold talks to resolve differences.

He criticized the March 14 alliance for their failure to recognize their political opponents.

“March 14 say they are the ones who can build a state…No state can be built on the idea of eliminating the other but [can be done] through cooperation and dialogue,” he said.