Beirut Al-Ahed (newspaper of Hezbollah, in Arabic), pg. 10

Reacting to U.S. allegations on the presence of Hezbollah members in Somalia, an official Hezbollah source has made a statement emphasizing a host of constants. The most important are:

“All nations reject the U.S. policy that is based on aggression and interference in the affairs of the region and many other countries. If there is hatred toward the Americans and rejection of their presence, this is not the stance of a particular party, but a conviction that all nations now hold, due to their old and renewed awareness of the American policy and its dangers.”

Hezbollah stressed:

“The noble Somali people know their responsibilities and appreciate their interests. They need no external signs to decide what is appropriate for them or to discover that the American force in Somalia is not a peace force, but one of occupation and colonialism. The resistance against the American forces is a Somali resistance with nationalist motives, especially after the Americans revealed the truth of their aggressive intentions, persisted in shedding the blood of the Somali people, and helped starve the nation and fan the civil war.”

Hezbollah pointed out:

“The Americans, primarily Clinton, admitted that their operations in Somalia went beyond their objectives, framework, and slogans. The Somalis have every right to confront these operations and they will find nothing but support and sympathy from the Arab and Muslim world.”

Hezbollah announced as one of the constants:

“…its support for the wronged Somali people and their struggle and jihad against all the forces that seek to undermine their existence and subjugate them to new hegemony and colonialism.”

Hezbollah also warned that the American allegations are meant to justify the organized acts of aggression and oppression perpetrated by the American forces in Somalia, especially in light of reports that these forces are trying to tighten the siege on Mogadishu with a view toward launching a methodological campaign of genocide against the Somali people and the nationalist forces defending them.

Hezbollah said through the official source:

“This is a continuing tune. When Washington faces problems in some area, it accuses Hezbollah of being behind them. We are greatly honored to have been one of the forces that confronted the American policies of hegemony and aggression. But we believe Washington, which is experiencing a crisis, thanks to its policy of interfering in more than one place in the region, is trying to twist problems in a way that suggests that the only obstacle to the American policy in the region is Hezbollah and some other forces and that the American policy has no problem with most Arab and Muslim peoples and countries.”