Incidence & Issues

Hezbollah seeks secular, democratic state: MP

Hezbollah is seeking to establish a secular, democratic Lebanese state, party MP Ali Fayyad said Monday.

“We [Hezbollah] believe in equality among all the Lebanese, and in this country we seek to establish a nonsectarian, democratic state,” Fayyad said during a visit of the former Israeli Khiam prison in southern Lebanon.

He noted that all Lebanese should enjoy equal rights.

“Although [Hezbollah] is a Muslim party we believe that all those fighting against imperialism, racism, discrimination, occupation and injustice, and those who are defending freedom – wherever they are – are our comrades, our partners and our brothers.”

Fayyad stressed that Hezbollah’s posture in Lebanon will remain defensive.

“And for this goal, we have every right to possess all the means to defend our people, our nation and our land, especially since the Israeli enemy we are facing is backed by the U.S. and a large number of European countries, which supply [Israel] with the most-advanced means of fighting, killing and destruction, including nuclear bombs,” he said.

“Hence, we stand on our national territory to defend this country and all the Lebanese people without distinguishing between Muslims and Christians or between Sunni and Druze.”