Daily Report

Hizbullah pledges new tactics after pullout…(1)
Hizbullah’s struggle with “Israel” will not stop with the end of the occupation in the south, the head of the group’s politburo vows.

“Our struggle with “Israel” will continue as we see fit for the benefit of Lebanon and the liberation of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights,” said Mohammed Raad, who is also a Nabatieh MP.

Speaking during a ceremony commemorating a Hizbullah martyr in the Nabatieh village of Kfar Sir, Raad said that Hizbullah would adopt new ways of fighting the “Israeli” enemy to pressure a withdrawal.

Speaker Nabih Berri questioned whether “Israel’s” claims regarding a withdrawal really meant peace, adding that they would not mean anything unless accompanied by security guarantees for Lebanon.

“There are so many questions that come up with such an “Israeli” proposal,” Berri told delegates from various groups at his home in Mseileh. “We say that a withdrawal doesn’t mean peace and a withdrawal doesn’t mean that Lebanon will guard “Israel’s” border.”

He accused “Israel” of seeking to separate the Lebanese and Syrian tracks of the peace process and to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning to their homeland.

“Peace is a comprehensive issue that is directly linked to the nature of the Arab-”Israeli” struggle in the region,” he said.

“The real results of this struggle is the dispersion of Palestinians. Lebanon isn’t a land without people so that it could act as a place for the settlement of another country’s people,” he said.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Salim Hoss said he hoped that a withdrawal takes place through a peace settlement within the Lebanese-Syrian framework. “In case of a resumption of the peace negotiations, what is stipulated by (UN Security Council) Resolution 425 will be our demand,” the premier said.

Lahoud calls on nation to protect armed struggle against “Israel”…(2)
“President Emile Lahoud’s address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day signaled a call for political cooperation and an insistence that the armed struggle against “Israel” must fall under the rubric of domestic resistance groups.

”The 14-minute speech, broadcast live on local television, was the president’s second major address to the country, coming four days prior to the anniversary of his much-celebrated inaugural address upon assuming office in November 1998”.

”Addressing the regional question, Lahoud described “Israeli” proposals for a unilateral withdrawal from the south outside the framework of a comprehensive peace deal as “a security framework that will make “Israel” comfortable at our expense.”

The president also reiterated his position that the government supported armed resistance against “Israel” by those working under the framework of the country’s resistance forces, and accused supporters of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat of sowing turmoil in Lebanon.

“Any other arms, which seek to gain their legitimacy from those who have made peace with “Israel” at our expense … are the arms of sedition, and should be surrendered to the state, or to others waging the resistance struggle,” he said.

Lahoud summed up by asserting his confidence that the country would overcome its current “difficulties and challenges.”

Seven people abducted by “Israeli” soldiers…(3)
“On Saturday seven people from the occupied village of Aita Shaab were reportedly abducted by “Israeli” soldiers and taken to the Khiam detention center, the Follow-Up Committee for the Support of Lebanese Detainees in “Israeli” Prisons said. The committee, which condemned the “monstrous” act, said that school teacher Ahmad Hussein Srour was among the detained.