Hezbollah leader: Saudi claims, sign of political failure

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia’s claims over the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah troops in Syria is a clear sign of Riyadh’s failed policies in Syria scenario. "Saudi Arabia claims that Hezbollah and the Iranian troops have occupied Syria. This is while the number of these troops in Syria are few in number and they have been present in Syria since 1982 and these ‘few dozens’ could not be able to occupy Syria," Nasrallah said in a televised speech. Nasrallah also strongly denied the Lebanese resistance group had received chemical weapons from Syria. "This accusation is truly laughable," Nasrallah said in a televised speech. "We understand the dimensions and background of these accusations, and these have dangerous consequences for Lebanon". "We decisively and conclusively deny these accusations which have absolutely no basis in truth," he added. "The US defense secretary warned that chemical weapons might be transferred to Hezbollah and on the next day the Syrian Coalition claimed that the Syrian government has delivered chemical arms to Hezbollah and some "smart" officials claimed that we have received a ton of chemical agents and this is a laughable accusation," Nasrallah said. Members of the so-called opposition group, Syrian National Coalition, had allegedly accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government of transferring chemical weapons to Hezbollah to escape inspection. A US-led plan to hit targets in Syria over Damascus’s alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians was put on hold earlier this month after Damascus agreed to a Russian-US deal to destroy its chemical arms stockpile. Referring to recent bomb blasts in Southern Beirut, Nasrallah said foreign backed militants in Syria were behind Beirut bombings in which at least 27 people killed on August 15 and more than 50 wounded on July 9. Elsewhere in his remarks, Nasrallah hailed army deployment in Beirut bastion and urged local residents to cooperate. Army troops and security forces began entering the area in the afternoon, taking over checkpoints set up by Hezbollah resistance group after two car bombings in the Southern suburbs. "We welcome this step and greatly appreciate this national decision taken by state officials," Nasrallah said. "We hope that the state and its official carry out their national and legal duties towards all of Lebanon's regions," he added. He called on residents of the group's stronghold, and those passing through it, to show "cooperation and respect" for the security forces and their measures. "All the details were passed on to the relevant state authorities, which must take the necessary measures, especially against the culprits who are inside Lebanon," Nasrallah added. Following the bombings, around 1,200 Lebanese troops and security forces began deploying on Monday in the mainly Shiite Southern suburbs.