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Lebanese President Meets Hezbollah Leader
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Monday hold unprecedented face-to-face talks with Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of the guerrilla group Hezbollah, in the wake of Israeli troop withdrawal from south Lebanon.
Lahoud highly praised the sacrifice of Hezbollah in its fighting against Israelis occupation, and stressed that Lebanon will never abandon a single inch of its territory.
Hezbollah, or Party of God, is a Shiite Muslim militant group backed by Iran and Syria in spearheading a war of attrition that drove out the Israeli occupation forces.
Israel pulled out all its troops from south Lebanon on May 24, ending 22 years of occupation there, under pressure of growing casualties caused by guerrillas attacks.
During the talks in the Baabda Palace, Lahoud said that the solidarity of Lebanese people is the secret of victory over Israel. "We will try our best to consolidate this solidarity and maintain our good relationship will resistance," Lahoud said.
Nasrallah told a news conference after the talk that he and the president talked about the cooperation and harmonious relationship between Hezbollah and the government. "Our talks also focused on the reconstruction and development in the liberated south," he said.
"The talks underscore the closeness and mutual confidence between the Lahoud regime and Hezbollah's resistance movement," he added.
Monday's meeting remolds relations between Lebanese government and Hezbollah at the highest official level, despite U.S. and Israeli accusation that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.
Nasrallah has never visited the presidential palace before, although Hezbollah's members of parliament have often called on Lahoud at the palace to discuss consolidation of cooperation between Lebanese army and the group during the guerrilla war against Israeli occupation.
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