Lebanese MP Ziad Aswad: We Cannot Hold On To Our Guns While Our People Are Hungry; Hizbullah Cannot Survive Without National Solidarity

Lebanese MP Ziad Aswad of the Free Patriotic movement said in a May 18, 2020 interview on OTV (Lebanon) that Lebanon cannot hold on to its guns since its people are hungry. He said that without national support, Hizbullah and the resistance movement cannot survive. He also criticized the corruption in the Lebanese government.

Ziad Aswad: “You cannot hold on to your guns, when your people are hungry. You must choose. If you want to hold on to your guns, the people need to be satisfied. They need to have work and food, and nobody can be toying with them."

Interviewer: "What you are saying is a big deal. You are saying that we are under siege and hungry, and we also hold on to our guns, but we should give up our guns so that we can stop being hungry?"

Aswad: "This is the opinion of the Americans. This is their decision."

Interviewer: "Right, this is their decision, so this is how it is going to be..."

Aswad: "Most probably. Or else, they will leave us to our own devices. Even though we are smart and know what's going on strategically, and even though we know that we have two enemies as well as domestic crises, we have failed to resolve our domestic issues. We have allowed the corruption to go on, we have allowed the state to collapse, and we have divided our nation along sectarian lines. We have killed the national solidarity among us, and we have followed various strategic lines – some have joined the Saudi axis, others are opposing Israel...

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"[Hizbullah] cannot survive on its own. Without national solidarity, they will not survive even if they barricade themselves 100 stories underground in Dahieh suburb. Without national solidarity and unified support for the resistance and unless the supporters of the resistance come to realize that resistance and corruption cannot go hand in hand, and that we must find a solution...They will see how the support of many people around them begins to crumble. This is the main threat facing them – that their base will turn against them. Now people will say that I am against [the resistance]..."