Hezbollah Slams U.S. Ambassador for Terrorism Allegation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Hezbollah Slams U.S. Ambassador for Terrorism Allegation

The chief of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah has accused the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon of alleging that the group conducts terrorism of global reach, the As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, made the accusation Tuesday night at a gathering in Beirut following U.S. Ambassador Vincent Battle stressed in a TV interview on Sunday Hezbollah carries out terror acts and is capable of staging terrorism of a "global reach."

The U.S. diplomat also claimed that Hezbollah, which has been put on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, has trained radical Islamic groups fighting Israel, including the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War).

Nasrallah has earlier urged Beirut to expel Battle, who he claimed "harmed national sovereignty and hurt the feelings of the Lebanese people."

Lebanon has refused the U.S. request to freeze Hezbollah's bank account and assets, noting that it is a resistance movement against Israeli occupation instead of a terrorist organization.

The Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, or Party of God, spearheaded combat to eventually force the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon in May 2000, ending its 22-year occupation there.

The guerrilla group vows to continue attacks against Israel as long as the Jewish state occupies the disputed Shebaa Farms on the Israeli-Lebanese-Syrian border.