Hezbollah signifies Israel as the indirect reason for the armed status of the Lebanese resistance movement, reiterating its preparedness for any surprise Israeli offensive. "…Weapons are the result of the resistance's existence and the resistance is there because of the presence of the enemy," Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem told Syria's Addounia TV, the Lebanese portal Naharnet reported on Saturday. Repeating the group's earlier warnings about Israel's hostility towards the resistance in Lebanon, he added that "Israel is a real danger; we can't be reassured; we have to be in full preparedness (for war). We don't know when surprises will come or what could happen regionally and internationally." Hezbollah, also an active member of the country's coalition government, has fought off bloody Israeli incursions into Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. The second ...

Hamas wants "Zionist war criminals" brought before the International Criminal Court over last year's Israeli assault on Gaza, an official of the Islamic resistance group said on Saturday. "We ask the United Nations to transfer the matter to the ICC so that the Zionist war criminals can be brought to justice," said Mohammed Faraj al-Ghul, justice minister in the Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip. However, he also said he expected that the United States would block any such move. "We expect that the American administration will intervene to block these criminals being judged," Ghul said. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including 420 children and over 5300 others were injured during the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. A UN Human Rights Council report by the respected former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian ...

Hezbollah’s deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Hezbollah hasn't received any indications of Israeli readiness to launch war on Hezbollah or in the region. "Israel is a real danger; we can't be reassured; we have to be in full preparedness (for war). We don't know when surprises would come or what could happen regionally and internationally," Sheikh Qassem told Syria's Addounia TV. "There is no resistance without arms. Weapons are the result of the resistance's existence and the resistance is there because of the presence of the enemy," Sheikh Qassem said. Turning to relations with Syria, his eminence said Hezbollah encouraged Prime Minister Saad Hariri's visit to Damascus which has shocked the March 14 team. Asked about ties with Egypt, the Hezbollah secretary general said: "The Egyptian regime has its own functioning method. We don't approve such a method."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he sees no concrete evidence Israel and the Palestinians have carried out credible, independent probes of alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. "No determination can be made on the implementation of the UN resolution by the parties concerned," Ban said on Thursday in a report that contains the responses provided by Israel and the Palestinians. The UN's fact-finding mission, headed by South African judge and former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, had accused Israel of committing war crimes during the 22-day assault on the Gaza Strip, which began on December 27, 2008. In an interview published in the December 8, 2009 edition of the newspaper al-Mashahid al-Siyasi, Musa Abu Marzouq, Hamas' second in command, said, “All paragraphs in the Goldstone report convict Israel and totally exonerate Hamas from any misconduct." ...

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah warned on Thursday that there were different sides seeking to cause sedition in Lebanon and the region, pointing to the 'fake kidnapping' incident that was witnessed in Lebanon last week and that could have caused a catastrophe in the country. His eminence denounced the bombings that targeted visitors in Iraq and called on the nation to have a firm stance towards them, condemning the fact that such acts became something "usual." Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking through a TV screen while marking the Arba'een (memorial) of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) during the ceremony held by Hezbollah at the Sayyed As-Shouhadaa' complex in Beirut's southern suburb. Hezbollah Secretary General started his speech by raising the issue of catastrophes faced by human beings throughout their lives and the ways to deal with them. ...