Youth and Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat supports an armed resistance that defends Lebanon against Israeli threats, but rejects an armed Hezbollah that he perceives as an Iranian force using Lebanon as an arena in a confrontation with the United States. Fatfat, in an interview with Naharnet, said Iran supports consensus on a Presidential candidate to avoid a sunni-Shiite confrontation, contrary to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime that believes Chaos in Lebanon is the way to re-gain control of the Beirut decision-making. Nevertheless, he expressed belief that the various Lebanese political factions would reach agreement on a consensus presidential candidate, noting that Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun's chances in Being a serious candidate for the nation's top post have "evaporated"
Fatfat also called for pulling "Syria's weapons" out of Lebanon, stressing that bases manned by Fatah Intifada and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command are "Syrian and not Palestinian" structures because their decisions are issued by the Assad regime and not by the Palestine Liberation Organization of President Mahmoud Abbas. "We are for an armed resistance and against an Armed Hezbollah," Fatfat declared.
"Resistance is not restricted to a single party, all the Lebanese factions have resistance heritage and have a duty to resist if the resistance is targeted against Israel to reclaim the land and regain prisoners," he explained. "But an Armed Hezbollah is not accepted Â… If these weapons have internal aims they would become hostile weapons and will be faced by tough confrontation from Lebanese (groups) that reject such a trend," Fatfat added.
He expressed "concern that this weapon is not meant to serve national goals, but rather regional (Iranian) aims."
"In other words it is an advance Iranian force in the Iranian-American confrontation, which means a return to using Lebanon as an arena for settling accounts in the region" to avoid confrontation in the Gulf or Iranian territories, Fatfat added.
He called for control by the Lebanese Army command of Hezbollah weapons, which would enable the Lebanese army to call the shots, noting "that a decision to go to war is a political decision that should be taken by the political authority and referred to the army for implementation."