Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has warned that no one is capable of routing out the resistance apparatus of the Party of God from Lebanon, assuring the Bush administration that the Lebanese would not fight a new civil war to uphold the interest of the United States or Israel. Nasrallah also warned in a speech to a Hezbollah rally in south Beirut Wednesday evening that Israel might mount a large-scale offensive against Lebanon to "cover Sharon's withdrawal operation from the Gaza strip," An Nahar reported Thursday morning.

Responding to fresh U.S. calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah to complete the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1559, Nasrallah said "the resistance is so deeply rooted in Lebanon's soil that makes rooting it out an absolute impossibility."

He drew wild cheers from hard-core supporters when he declared "the resistance in Lebanon is not merely an armed gang that can be attacked and annihilated." He went on to say "let the Americans and the Israelis rest assured that the Lebanese are not willing to clash in internal warfare for their sake."

"If there is a controversial issue in Lebanon, we can sort it out by dialogue," Nasrallah asserted less than a week after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon in which she pressed for Hezbollah's disarmament.

"There can be only one authority in a country, and in a democracy, there can be only one authority that is armed," Rice said in reference to Hezbollah.

The new Lebanese government includes for the first time a Hezbollah cabinet minister. The United States has said it will not deal with him, though his presence won't prevent contacts with the government as a whole.

"Events in recent months, particularly during parliamentary elections, have underlined that the resistance is a popular choice. ... The resistance is not an organization separate from the morals, values, will, feelings and sentiments of the people in Lebanon," Nasrallah said.(AP-Naharnet)