Archive for month: September, 2014

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has arrived in Lebanon to hold talks on defense cooperation.

Heading a high-ranking political and security delegation, Ali Shamkhani arrived in the Lebanese capital, Beirut on Monday night.

Upon arrival in the Lebanese capital, Shamkhani praised the historical and constructive ties between Iran and Lebanon, saying his visit is aimed at holding dialogue and consultations with the Lebanese officials on political and security developments in the region as well as ways for cooperation between Tehran and Beirut in confronting the common threats facing the two nations.

“I will confer with the Lebanese officials on the framework of defense cooperation between Iran and Lebanon as well as providing the Lebanese army with its equipment needs, requested by Beirut,” said the Iranian official.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Ambassador to Beirut Mohammad Fat’hali expressed the Islamic Republic’s support for the Lebanese army in the fight against Takfiri militants.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Lebanese Defense Minister Samir Moqbel in Beirut, saying Tehran was ready to lend any type of support to Beirut in its efforts to restore security and stability to the Arab country if requested.

Lebanon has been rocked by the spillover of the conflict in Syria.

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BEIRUT: Hezbollah renewed its calls Monday for Shiite-Sunni unity in Lebanon and in the Arab world, as the region continues to fight extremist groups like ISIS and the Nusra Front. In a meeting with Lebanon’s new Grand Mufti Abdul-Latif Derian, Hezbollah official Sheikh Ibrahim Amin Sayyed emphasized that mutual understanding was essential for Muslim cooperation.

“Incidents taking place in Lebanon and the region have highlighted the need for Lebanese, Arabs and Muslims to be more united,” Sayyed, who headed the Hezbollah delegation to Dar al-Fatwa, told reporters after holding talks with Derian.

Sayyed said his visit was made on behalf of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah to congratulate Derian on his new post.

The Hezbollah official said Muslim and Arab societies were keen on seeing the region’s especially influential countries use dialogue instead of conflict to overcome their differences, independent of foreign assistance.

“Our enemies have not achieved their goals so they are trying to destroy [Arab] nations from within, and this is a big problem that we face,” Sayyed said.

Speaking to reporters at Dar al-Fatwa, Sayyed said that the enemies of Islam had created a host of problems for the region and the international area.

“And that’s being done through some groups within our Muslim society. These groups are damaging the reputation of Islam, its image and prestige,” Sayyed said, referring to extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.

The region is “paying the price of foreign intervention, invasion and war,” he said, which “created these takfiri groups among us.”

The extremists groups, he added, are a direct threat to Lebanon.

“As for the situation in Lebanon, the challenges and dangers the country is facing are connected to the threats posed by these terrorist groups,” he said.

He said that religious leaders had agreed on the need for the government and the Lebanese Army to take necessary measures to combat terrorist groups. Sayyed said political factions in Lebanon, too, should put aside their political differences and unite to face the extremist threat.

Touching on the issue of the servicemen being held hostage by ISIS and the Nusra Front, Sayyed expressed hopes that the government would resolve the situation in a satisfactory manner.

Clashes broke out in early August between the Lebanese Army and Islamist militants in Arsal. The militants captured at least 30 policemen and soldiers, at least 21 of whom remain captive.

Sayyed underlined the importance of protecting Syrian refugees from reprisal attacks amid the ongoing crisis in their country and especially after the Arsal clashes. He condemned the retaliatory action that had been taken against refugees in some districts since the incident.

“As Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah said in a recent speech, we are against any vengeful acts taken against innocents who had nothing to do with the [Arsal clashes], whether Lebanese or Syrian,” Sayyed said.

Sayyed also praised Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s stance in defending the Army against accusations made by the Syrian opposition.

The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces filed a complaint at the weekend to the U.N. Security Council accusing the Army of human rights abuses against Syrians in Arsal.

“The condemnation [by Hariri] was good,” Sayyed said. “The coalition’s complaint was out of place.”

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The US has rejected the recent comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about Iran during his UN speech in New York.

In his speech at the 69th annual session of the UN General Assembly on Monday, Netanyahu called Iran a greater “threat” than the ISIL Takfiri terrorists fighting in Syria and Iraq.

The Israeli premier claimed, “ISIS (ISIL) must be defeated… But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state power is to win the battle and lose the war.”

But, the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington disagrees with Netanyahu’s assertion, adding that the White House would like to show that Iran’s nuclear energy program is peaceful during the ongoing talks between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of world powers.

She said that the US “would not agree with the characterization” made in Netanyahu’s speech that ISIL Takfiris and Iran share similar goals of establishing an international Islamic caliphate.

Last week, Press TV released exclusive footage that showed the Takfiri terrorists in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria.

In the video provided by the Press TV correspondent in the region, black-clad masked terrorists are seen holding weapons as several vehicles pass by.

Netanyahu also reacted to nuclear talks between Iran and the Sextet of world powers, saying, an agreement between the two sides “would pose the gravest threat to us all.”

Iran and its negotiating partners — the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany– have been holding talks to resolve the dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

Since 1958, when Israel began building its Dimona plutonium- and uranium-processing facility in the Negev Desert, it has secretly manufactured numerous nuclear warheads, making it the only player in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the Israeli nuclear arsenal, which he said has between 200 and 400 warheads.

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Lebanese Hizbullah Leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said confronting terrorism was the highest priority for his organization.

He made the remarks here on Tuesday in a meeting with Secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani.

During the meeting, the two officials discussed issues of mutual interest.

Shamkhani hailed the key role of Hizbullah in safeguarding security and stability in Lebanon.

He said the Lebanese society has always been indebted to the unique and brave resistance of Hizbullah youngsters in launching a campaign against the threat of Takfiri terrorists.

He believed the intelligence and strategic policies of Hizbullah in dealing with the threats is a key element in the countrys developments.

Nassrallah, for his part, pointed to the unusual and complicated threat posed to the regional stability and said the Hizbullah attached great importance to confronting threats by the Takfiri terrorists, stopping spread of insecurity and violence to Lebanon and reinforcing stability and national unity.

He appreciated Irans ceaseless support for the campaign against terrorism and said confronting growing threats by

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