Qassem:Hezbollah won’t respond to assassination accusations

Hezbollah’s deputy leader said the party does not owe Lebanon an explanation over allegations by March 14 officials that the group is involved in political assassinations. “We do not respond to assassination accusations because they are void and unfounded,” Sheikh Naim Qassem told attendees of a Friday Iftar in Beirut. His comments were published Saturday. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea implicitly accused the rival March 8 camp of trying to assassinate him. On April 4, Geagea said that he escaped an assassination attempt when shots were fired at his residence. Batroun MP Butros Harb said on July 5 that he survived an attempted assassination after two detonators were found on top of the elevator inside the Beirut building housing his office. Harb has called on Hezbollah to hand over the man suspected of being involved in the foiled plot. Harb claims that the man is a Hezbollah member and that party is protecting him. Hezbollah has denied having any connection to the attempted assassination. Turning to the issue of resistance, Qassem said Hezbollah will continue on the path of struggle. “They are waging psychological, political, media and provocative campaigns against us ... in order to scare people away from us. But these methods no longer work,” he said. “They previously accused us of terrorism, but it turned out that people rally behind us on a fundamental goal – liberation and resistance.” “Know that we don’t respond to a lot of accusations brought against us – whether assassination allegations, those regarding the party’s movements in the countries of the world or [allegations] that we are fighting in Syria,” Qassem said. From:The daily star