Hezbollah official stresses need for Shiite-Sunni unity

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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