More than 200 clerics on Saturday condemned the US-British invasion of Iraq and the recent threats made against Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
The clerics, who had assembled at Martyrs Hall at the former Khiam detention camp, called for learning from the lesson set by the Lebanese resistance, which force the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000.
The United States has started a war against the entire area, starting with Iraq. But Washington says that the next phases will be against Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iran, Hizbullah’s commander for the South, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, said in an address.
He added that by igniting wars and seeking them all around the world, the Americans represented a threat to all religions and mankind.
Christians and Muslims were brought together on the same road by America’s conceit and Washington’s determination to impose its hegemony, in a manner prohibiting US President George W. Bush from hiding behind scripture and the Christian religion, Qaouk said.
He added that the war against Iraq was, in effect, a war against Hizbullah, Lebanon, Syria and this entire part of the world. We now regard ourselves as engaged in an openly-declared military confrontation against the United States, which has assembled armies and fleets believing it can scare the Arab people.
He added that Lebanon’s Christians and Muslims were united in trying to help the Iraqi resistance.
Qaouk said that the this area is a resistance arena, which rejected US and Israeli hegemony and imperialism.
Another speaker, the mufti of Marjayoun and Khiam, Sheikh Hussein Abdullah, called on clerics and believers from all religions to rally in opposing the oppressors.
The prophets want us to work together. And Iraq, throughout history, has opposed imperialism as Jesus Christ resisted the imperialism of kings and oppressors. The Prophet Mohammed was also opposed to the Persians and the Greeks and rejected the spread of immorality.
A Druze cleric, Sheikh Fandi Shujaa, described the US-led invasion as a genuine bloody and terrorist coup. He called not only for condemning the aggression but also fighting it.
The Orthodox bishop of Tyre, Elias Kfoury, condemned the aggression from an industrialized country, such as the United States, which has always pretended to respect democratic principles.
Separately, Kfoury on Sunday called for supporting Iraq in a special prayer service at Sidon’s 300-year-old Saint Nicolas Orthodox Cathedral.