Source: almanar.com.lb, 31-5-2009

The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad said on Sunday that the Resistance wants a strong, sovereign and independent Lebanon.

Speaking in the southern town of Bablieh, Raad said the opposition wants a Lebanon where the Lebanese people are the sole decision makers regarding the country's fate, political status and goals. "We want a country in which there is no foreign intervention, no matter who stands behind it," he said.

Raad noted that whoever raises the slogan of sovereignty and rejects foreign tutelage shoudn't accept or call for foreign interference of any form. He said that the US interference in the internal electoral affairs was obvious, recalling of the role played by the US ambassador Michele Sisson in finalizing the March 14 tickets. He also pointed to the roles played in the same context by the former and current US Secretaries of State and finally by the US Vice President Joe Biden during his last visit to the Lebanese capital.

"When someone says that the aids offered for Lebanon depend on the vote outcome and the structure of the next cabinet is an attempt to threaten and intimidate Lebanese," Raad said, adding that such practices were "a form of terrorism against Lebanese voters."

The Hizbullah MP also slammed the "Israeli" warnings against the national opposition victory in the upcoming polls, criticizing the threats made by the "Israeli" War Minister Ehud Barak against such victory. "Barak threats are believed to be a flagrant intervention in the Lebanese elections in favor of the ruling bloc," he said.