Friday, Dec 14, 2007
BEIRUT (AP)--Hezbollah denied reports its powerful leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah had been demoted by the Shiite militant group's Iranian sponsors and that control of the group's military wing was given to his deputy.
The reports appeared this week in the Saudi-owned Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat and the Israeli daily Maariv.
In a statement issued Thursday, Hezbollah said the report has "no truth and lacks objectivity and real information."
"Hezbollah, under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, will remain the firm, steadfast, cohesive symbol of resistance in confronting the occupation, aggression and oppression," it said.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported Thursday that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to whom Hezbollah swears spiritual loyalty, ordered the command of Hezbollah's military wing to be taken away from Nasrallah and given temporarily to Nasrallah's deputy, Sheik Naim Kassem.
The report cited unidentified "sources close to the office of coordination and mobilization in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards." It said the move was prompted by disputes between Kassem and Nasrallah.
Maariv had a similar report Wednesday citing unidentified "Western intelligence" sources.
Nasrallah has appeared several times since August, making a number of television speeches, and there has been no sign his authority in the group has diminished.
Hezbollah said the reports were aimed at "spreading confusion" and discrediting the group after the show of "widespread support" for Hezbollah and Nasrallah following last year's 34-day war between the guerilla group and Israel.
Hezbollah fought Israeli forces to a standstill in that conflict, which devastated towns and villages in southern Lebanon. Iran is the main sponsor of Hezbollah and is believed to have supplied it with thousands of rockets as well as millions of dollars to help rebuild southern Lebanon after the war.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 14, 2007 08:04 ET (13:04 GMT)
