Following is a statement by former Lebanese Sunni MP Khaled Dhaher, which aired on LBC TV on May 12, 2008:
Khaled Dhaher: Since the army and the security forces are incapable of defending our sons, our religion, our faith, and our liberty, we in the Islamic Gathering have decided to launch national-Islamic resistance, in order to protect Lebanon and defend its people, and in order to prevent the Persian enterprise from getting its clutches on an Arab capital, because the people who have occupied Beirut belong to the Persian-Iranian army.