Islam Times - Sheikh Qassem to Al-Manar: Hezbollah Open to Talks with Jumblatt

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem reiterated on Thursday that the national opposition would get the majority of the 128 parliamentary seats in the next Parliament as a result of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, ruling out any influence of the Egyptian campaign against the Resistance party on the opposition's status ahead of the elections.

Speaking to Al-Manar, Sheikh Qassem expressed a favorable reaction towards the head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt's new positioning, hinting that the meeting between the latter and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah was possible and would take place "some day."

OPPOSITION WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS OUT OF ELECTIONS
Sheikh Qassem reiterated his party's belief that the national opposition would emerge victorious out of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, noting that polls and surveys that are conducted are very reassuring.

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General expected that the national opposition would get the majority of the 128 parliamentary seats in the next Parliament as a result of the elections. His eminence predicted that the opposition's number of seats would range between 67 and 70 seats, deducing that the opposition would increase its actual portion in the Parliament by three seats at least.

MEETING BETWEEN JUMBLATT, SAYYED NASRALLAH POSSIBLE
Sheikh Qassem commented on the latest statements delivered by the head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt. His eminence expressed a favorable reaction towards Jumblatt's new positioning.

"The decision of openness and cooperation with Jumblatt was already taken," Sheikh Qassem said, pointing to Jumblatt's "positive" stances regarding Arabism, Palestine, internal partnership, harmony between Beirut's southern suburb and the Mount. "The relation between Dahieh and the Mount should remain strategic," his eminence stressed, noting that there was a familial intertwinement between the two regions that could extend to also become "political."

Sheikh Qassem noted that there was nothing that prevents the idea of a potential meeting between the Progressive Socialist Party leader and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, noting that such meeting could take place "one day."

"The nature of the meetings that are taking place nowadays between the two parties, the positions that are taken and everything will lead to the holding of a meeting between Jumblatt and Sayyed Nasrallah," his eminence explained.

EGYPTIAN REGIME CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEZBOLLAH WOULD NOT AFFECT OPPOSITION
Meanwhile, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General confirmed that the Egyptian regime was seeking perturb the Resistance party on the eve of the parliamentary elections by raising aggressive claims against it. However, Sheikh Qassem declared that all the claims and accusations would not affect the national opposition in a negative way.

His eminence reiterated that Egyptian accusations against the Lebanese Resistance group were baseless and part of a political ploy to discredit the movement. "The Egyptian regime wants revenge and is seeking to sully Hezbollah's image", his eminence emphasized. "This whole thing is politically motivated and will result in a backlash against the Egyptian regime."

Sheikh Qassem called the Egyptian officials not to calm down. "We have no interest in raising such conflicts between us as Arabs," his eminence noted, recalling that the Zionist entity was the sole beneficiary of such problems. "The Israelis are very happy and they are even claiming that they gave Egypt intelligence services to discover the network."